How Now, Batcow?
by River9Noble
Summary: Batcowverse#2 (Batfamweek2020) Steph gets told off by Red Hood during a patrol gone wrong, so she goes to hang out with the other most underappreciated member of the Batfamily - Batcow. It isn't long before she's roped Jason and Damian into a cow heist. Because Batcow needs friends, dammit! And maybe Steph can wrangle a boyfriend for herself out of the Robins' adventure. [JaySteph]
1. Chapter 1

_**Batfam Week 2020**_

_Day 2 Prompts: Hurt/Comfort | __**Underappreciated Family Members**__ | Dark Batfam AU_

_How Now, BatCow?_

* * *

It had been a rough night for one Stephanie Brown, Batgirl. She'd tried to stop a simple mugging only to end up surrounded by more gang members than she could comfortably fight off. Because of course the mugger belonged to a crew. Of course he did, and of course they'd been drinking inside the bar that the alley bordered on and of course they'd happened to come out right as she dropped off of the fire escape to confront who she thought was a single mugger.

This was Steph's particular brand of luck. She supposed she should be used to it by now, and it wasn't like it was her fault this time that things had gone south, but the flames of embarrassment when she'd had to call Oracle in a panic for backup support were sharp accusers. Made worse by the fact that it was Red Hood who came swinging in to save her butt.

Ok, Jason wasn't quite as bad as if it had been B, but then again, who could be? Jason was definitely the second worst person Babs could have called. How he managed to look so scornful when his hood covered his whole freakin' face, she did not know. But he gave Steph the uncomfortable feeling that she was back in the Robin suit and had let Bats down again for the twelfth time in a row.

Ugh. Not her night. She wasn't dead or captured, but feeling like an inadequate piece of crap? Yeah, that wasn't fun.

"Be more careful next time," he'd said to her with disgust once the alley was littered with shot-up gang members. (Not lethally shot, this time, but probably only because it was Oracle who had called him and he didn't want a lecture from the one person in the Batfamily he actually still sort of liked.)

"It wasn't my fault!" she'd protested. Steph swore she could feel the eye roll that he was giving her underneath the hood.

"You don't think?" he asked her, stepping in closer.

"No, I don't think," she said, putting her hands on her hips. "It was one guy when I dropped down."

"Which guy?" he demanded.

"Why does it matter?" Steph countered.

"I'll show you," he said sharply. "Which. Guy." Steph sighed and picked her way around writhing and knocked out bodies until she found the original mugger.

"This one," she said, giving him a little kick.

"Not your fault?" the Hood asked her again. "Let's see. He's wearing Renegade Rogue colors. We're outside the Motley Brews bar and it's Saturday night. Who always drinks at Motley Brews on Saturdays? Oh, that's right - the Renegade Rogues. And what time is it? Look at that," he said sarcastically. "They rang last call ten minutes ago."

Steph stared at him.

"How was I supposed to know any of that?" she asked him.

"Did detecting get taken off the syllabus?" Jason snarked at her. Steph felt her temper flare up.

"I guess I wouldn't know, seeing as how B couldn't be bothered to train me as well as the rest of you."

"Yet here you are in a suit, anyway," Jason said pointedly. "Like I said. Be. More. Careful. You think any of us want another dead Bat to deal with?"

Steph swore she didn't mean for it to, but her chin wobbled.

"Been there, done that, got the t-shirt," she muttered as she turned her back on him and shot her grappling hook up to the nearest roof. She didn't hear it as she flew off into the night, but behind her, Red Hood sighed.

It was some time later when Steph, still in her Batgirl suit, came creeping into the barn that sat nestled in the grounds of Wayne Manor.

"Hey, girl," she called out softly to Batcow, who was kneeling on the ground contentedly chewing her cud. "It's me," Steph said, walking through the shadows to sit down at Batcow's side. Steph sighed as she stroked the cow's head and leaned up against her.

"What's that?" Steph asked her. "Oh. I screwed up again. You know. Like always." Steph didn't want to, but she sniffed as she snuggled a little closer into the cow's warm side. "Steph the screw-up," she muttered. "Steph, the wannabe Robin. Steph, who's gonna get herself killed again sooner rather than later."

"Yeah, of course it was Red Hood," she continued after a pause. "It's Renegade Rogue night down at the bar," she mocked in a dopey voice. "Be more careful, Batgirl." Steph pulled her cowl off and laid it next to her, followed by her gauntlets. "You know, for someone who hates B so much, he's sure got his snark down pat."

"Ouch," she heard a voice say through the dark. "Low blow, Blondie." Steph jumped.

"Well, you know what they say," she said, regaining her voice as Red Hood approached her. "Like father, like son."

"You're full of them tonight," he said to her, settling down on the hay beside her. "You gonna be in town all week?"

"What are you doing here?" she asked him grumpily as he pulled his hood and gloves off and tossed them next to her cowl.

"Me? I followed you. The question is, what are you doing here in the dark with Bat-Steak? Ow!" he yelped as Steph hit him in the arm, hard.

"Don't call her that," she said with heat.

"Geez, someone's sensitive about a cow," he said, rubbing his arm.

"She's Batcow," Steph glared at him, even though he couldn't see it in the dark. "Not just any cow."

"And that makes her special because…?" he asked her with a slight tease in his voice now.

"Because she's the only other person in this family who doesn't get any respect," Steph said more bitterly than she intended to.

"Hey, Blondie," Jason started to say, sounding a little guilty now. Steph didn't answer him and reached out to scratch Batcow's ears.

"Look," Jason sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Maybe I was a little too hard on you out there."

"I don't know," Steph said with self-loathing in her voice, "sounded like you were telling the truth to me. I didn't know about the gang and the bar and all of that. I didn't notice what colors he was wearing."

"Well, the Bats don't really teach you kids to pay attention to things like that," Jason muttered.

"I'm not a kid," Steph said. "I'm twenty. Geez, Jason, you're barely that much older than me."

"Right," he said on a soft laugh. "Of course. Look, I was scared, ok?" he said, reaching out to squeeze her knee. "I'm trying to apologize."

"Scared?" Steph asked him, disbelievingly. "Of those gang members? No, you weren't. Don't lie."

"I wasn't scared of the gang members, Blondie," Jason said seriously, tapping her leg with his hand, and was it just Steph, or was he sitting a little closer to her now? "I was scared because you almost got yourself killed."

"Oh," Steph said, slightly surprised. "Why do you care?"

"Why do I care if Robin dies again? Gee, let me think," Jason said sarcastically. Steph turned her head towards his face in the dark. "Bad enough you got killed once," Jason said more softly, and their lips were so close that his breath floated into Steph's as he spoke.

"Almost killed," Steph murmured.

"Pretty damn near killed, from what I heard, Dead Robin," Jason said, and then he was kissing her and Steph's heart was racing a mile a minute because he was damn good at it, way better than Tim, sexy and bold and confident, taking control of the kiss and making it deep and wet and holding her head firmly in his hand and Steph was losing her breath and soaking her panties and tingling with desire before he drew back to let her lips go. But he didn't let go of her face, although his hand was gentler now as he stroked her cheek.

"I'm sorry, ok?" he said softly, his lips barely touching hers as he spoke.

"Um, ok," Steph whispered back. "You want to make it up to me?" she asked him, leaning forward to brush his mouth in a light kiss.

"I really do," Jason murmured back with a smile in his voice.

"Great!" Steph said cheerfully, drawing back the tiniest bit. "Because I think Batcow is depressed, and I want to steal her some friends."

"Wait, what?" said Jason.

"Here, look," Steph said, reaching down to her Batbelt, which forced him to let go of her face, although Jason didn't let that deter his proximity to her. He promptly slid his arm around her shoulders instead, which Steph didn't seem to mind, so he tugged her into his side while she pulled her cellphone out.

"Cockblocker," he mouthed silently at Batcow's head as he leaned him and Steph back against her bulk, although Steph was snuggling into his shoulder, and that wasn't such a bad development. She was bringing up a YouTube video to show him.

"Are those cows in a forest?" Jason asked her, completely confused now at what he was seeing and the direction that this night was suddenly veering off into.

"Yeah," said Steph happily. "It's an animal sanctuary. See how the cows are all friends? And they roam around all day in the woods and the fields hanging out with each other. Cows form really close bonds, they can totally have BFF's. But Batcow is all alone. I want to help her."

"Why don't you just ask Bruce to buy her some friends?" Jason asked her, feeling puzzled.

"Like Bruce would listen to me," Steph muttered. "Anyway, I found out on the sanctuary's website that dairy cows get their babies taken away from them and sold for veal and it makes the mommies really sad. Isn't that awful? I didn't know that! I thought eating dairy wasn't that bad for animals."

"Uh, right," Jason said, thinking about how delicious hamburgers were. And steak. And chili. "Are you a vegetarian?" he asked Steph, frowning a little bit. He wanted to get with Steph, but he did not want to date a vegetarian. That would be a conundrum.

"God, no," Steph laughed, to Jason's great relief. "You think I could give up Big Belly burgers? But see, that's why I want to steal a dairy cow and her calf. Or, well, more than one, but I'm not sure how big a trailer we can find to transport them in."

Jason's head was starting to spin, but he kind of liked it. Blonde Batgirl wasn't like the other Bats, which he'd already suspected. She was… fun. In a weird way. But a cute way.

"Go over why we have to steal these cows, again?" he asked her, starting to lightly trace circles on her arm with his fingertips.

"Because," Steph said, turning to cuddle her face into the crook of his neck, "we need to atone for eating so much dairy and beef."

"Oh," said Jason with a smile. "That's… not completely irrational," he said as Steph turned a little more and wrapped her arm around his chest.

"So you'll do it?" she asked him hopefully.

"Sure," he said with a grin as he wrapped his other arm around her. "I've done worse things."

"I know," Steph teased him. "This is practically heroic in comparison." Jason snorted.

"I don't think Bruce will see it that way," he said.

"Damian will," Steph said confidently. "And Bruce doesn't need to know where the cows came from."

"You really think he won't find out?" Jason asked her skeptically. Steph made a _pfft_ sound with her mouth.

"By the time he figures it out, Damian will have convinced him that the cows need to stay and he won't be able to do anything about it." Jason laughed.

"You may be slightly more cunning than I gave you credit for earlier," he said, bending down to kiss her again. Steph wrapped her hand around his head and kissed him back.

_Coming tomorrow - The next chapter! For Day 3 prompt __**Bonding During A Mission **_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Batfam Week 2020**_

_Day 3 Prompts: Injuries | __**Bonding During A Mission **__| No Capes/Civilian AU_

* * *

Jason would have been more than happy to keep making out with Steph, despite the slight awkwardness of being chaperoned by Batcow and the charming aroma of the barn, but Steph was nothing if not energetically determined once she had her mind set on something.

"Can we leave tonight?" she asked him happily as she palmed his stubbled cheek with her hand.

"To steal the cows?" he asked her, finding it a little easier to follow her speeding trains of thought this time around. "Where is there even a dairy farm around here?" he asked her.

"There's one two hours away," she said. "I've already looked into it." Jason looked at her.

"Been planning this heist for awhile, Blondie?" he asked her with a slow grin as he wound a piece of her hair around his fingers and leaned forward to nuzzle her neck, doing his damnedest not to totally lose the moment.

"Well, yeah," she said with a giggle. "I've been working on it. But I couldn't figure out where to get a pickup truck from. To hitch the trailer to."

"Where are you going to get the trailer from?" Jason asked her as he started pressing little kisses along her jaw.

"I figured they'd have one at the dairy farm we could steal," she said, scrunching her fingers through the back of his hair.

"Mmf," Jason said thoughtfully, actually distracted now. "We'll have to do recon to confirm that."

"Well, we were gonna have to do that anyway to figure out how to nab the cows," she said pragmatically and Jason burst out laughing.

"I can't believe you've got me in on a cow heist," he said. Batcow swished him with her tail.

"You said you wanted to make up for being an ass," Steph pointed out.

"I'm not complaining," Jason said with a chuckle. "But I had something else in mind."

"Yeah, well, I'm not opposed to that, too. Afterwards," Steph said, giving him another kiss. "But first you have to complete my quest and prove your worth," she teased as Jason's hands got more enthusiastic upon hearing her first statement.

"Well, if we leave now, we're gonna have to stay over somewhere so we can properly scope out the situation in daylight," Jason said seductively.

"Oh. About that," Steph said. "Don't get too upset, but we have to take Damian with us."

"What?" Jason spluttered, drawing back from her. "Oh, my God," he moaned. "That was worse than a cold shower, Blondie," he said. "Why do we have to take the kid?"

"Well, I don't know how to get cows to move where you want them to go," Steph said. "Like, look at Batcow, here," she said. Jason turned to look over their shoulders at the cow who they were cozily leaning against. "She's kneeling on the ground," Steph said. "How do you get her up? I don't know. How do we get her in a trailer? I don't know. And cows are heavy."

"Pretty sure that's where a cattle prod comes in handy," Jason smirked.

"No!" Steph said. "That's mean. No cattle prods."

"You think terrorizing the poor cows with a demon child is kinder?" Jason said with a hint of a giggle in the back of his voice. "I can see it now. A whole barn of cows fleeing in terror," he started to laugh. "It'll be a stampede."

"Hey," Steph said, but she was giggling, too. "He's an animal whisperer. And he's used to taking care of Batcow. I think he'll know what to do."

"All right, all right," Jason said. "Let's go grab him and get started on this craziness."

"Yeah?" Steph said with pleasure.

"Yeah," Jason said, tugging her to her feet.

And that was how Jason found himself two hours later, speeding out of Gotham, packed three abreast into the cab of a pristinely cared for pickup truck, with a large black dog on the floor of the passenger side.

"You were wise to request my assistance," Damian said approvingly as he petted Titus's head.

"You're sure you and the dog can herd the cows ok?" Jason asked him as he munched on one of the cookies that Agent A had thoughtfully supplied them with. "He's not a sheepdog."

"We are not stealing sheep. We are stealing cows," Damian sniffed. "And Titus is more than capable of performing his task. If a pig can do it, my dog can."

"That was a fake pig, you know," Steph said. Damian frowned. "It was a movie, Damian," she said. "The pig wasn't real."

"I was not aware that it was a movie," Damian said. "I had merely heard tell of the exploits of the pig named Babe." He furrowed his brows. "How disappointing."

"I bet you could train a pig to do it for real, kiddo," Jason said comfortingly. "We could stop at a pork farm, too, and pick one up for you." Steph giggled.

"Perhaps next time," Damian said seriously. "I would not like to alarm the cows if they are unused to a pig's presence."

"Wise precaution," Jason said back equally as seriously, although his eyes were twinkling over at Steph, who was sitting - or squashed - next to him with her legs around either side of the gear shift. Jason had insisted that Damian take the window seat so that he could pay more attention to Titus as they drove. Steph wasn't fooled. She wasn't upset, either

Especially when Jason's right hand kept finding its way down to rest on her thigh.

Alfred had caught them in the kitchen collecting snacks before they left.

"Oh! Alfred," Steph had said with surprise when he flicked the lights on to reveal three guilty looking Bats tip-toeing around by the light of the open refrigerator.

"We have a mission of utmost importance, Alfred," Damian had said calmly as Titus thumped his tail on the floor at his feet. "Please inform my Father that we will return in two days' time."

Alfred had looked from Damian, dressed all in black, to Steph, still in her Batgirl suit, to Jason, whose hood was on the counter but was otherwise still in his gear, guns and all. Alfred's eyebrow rose upon noticing that Jason had frozen in the process of stuffing a tupperware container full of leftover turkey and gravy into a pocket of his cargo pants.

"I see," Alfred had said dryly. "And might Agent A know the details of this mission, Master Damian? So that your Father does not ride out after you in worry?" The three had glanced at each other.

"Um," Jason had said slowly, racking his brains for a logical explanation.

"Jason is feeling sad," Steph said in a rush. He turned to stare at her. "And we're going to take him camping. To cheer him up. Just a few hours outside of Gotham, not too far. But we'll stay a few days. Until the sunshine and forest air make him feel better."

Jason was giving her a hard look, but that only served to make Alfred fuss over him all the more.

"Oh, Master Jason," Alfred had beamed at him, coming up to him to plant a kiss on his cheek before patting his shoulder kindly. "It does my heart good to know that you reached out to your siblings for help in your time of need."

"Steph isn't my sister," Jason said forcefully. She blushed. Alfred's lips quirked the tiniest bit.

"Indeed, Master Jason. Your teammate and your sibling, I should have said," he corrected himself. "Now let me put together some proper food for your trip."

"Does Bruce have a pickup truck?" Steph asked him on an inspiration. "We can't all ride on Jason's bike back to his place to pick up his clothes and we need space to stow our food and gear on the trip."

"Indeed he does, Miss Stephanie," Alfred had said. "I'll get the keys for you after I get your meals sorted. Master Damian, run upstairs and pull the sleeping bags out of the attic in the meantime. Will you be taking a tent as well?"

Steph's eyes had started to go wide in panic.

"No tent," Jason said. "We're going to rough it. I want to see the stars," he sighed, a tad too dramatically, earning him a sharp look behind Alfred's back from Steph.

"Ah, to be young again," Alfred had mused, loading up the huge cooler that he had produced from a kitchen cabinet with more food than they would have needed for a week. "And what lovely weather we're having," he added.

Steph had to choke back a giggle and buried her mouth in her shoulder.

"Yes, Steph, it's lovely weather for camping," Jason murmured in her ear as he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "I'm so glad you suggested it," he said.

"City slickers like us need to get out into the country more," Steph agreed amiably as she leaned back against his chest while running her hands over his arms. "And I've heard that sometimes you see the most amazing species of wildlife in a forest," she teased.

Jason coughed. Although his stomach didn't stop shaking for several seconds after. Damian and Titus came scampering back into the kitchen with three compressed sleeping bags slung over Damian's shoulder.

"I'm ready," Damian said, moving to pick up his bag of clothes which he had brought down to the kitchen before Mission: Snack Food had been interrupted and upgraded by Agent A. Damian looked at Jason and Steph curiously, who were still cuddled together in the middle of the kitchen.

"Are you dating?" he said.

"Yes," they both said at the same time. Alfred smiled, but Damian's smile was bigger.

"Timothy Drake will be most displeased," he commented. Steph snorted and Jason laughed.

"Good," he said as he let go of Steph with a kiss to her neck. He moved to pick up the cooler from Alfred. "Let's go get the truck loaded up and get going," he said. "We have to stop by Blondie's house first so she can change and then stop at my place."

As Jason's hand crept a little higher on her thigh while he drove, Steph smiled and laid her head down on his shoulder. He glanced at her.

"I would have asked you out sooner if I'd known you were this into me," he smirked.

"I wasn't," Steph said, puncturing his ego. "I didn't even like you that much," she said and Damian cackled.

"What changed your mind?" Jason asked her in a sexy undertone. Only to have Damian respond with a loud sound of disgust.

"Save your inane flirtation for your own time, Todd. We have a mission to prepare for. Distraction leads to death." Jason huffed but Steph giggled.

"You're right, Damian," she said. "Back to business, Mr. Todd," she scolded him playfully. "We have cows to liberate." Jason sighed. But he kept his hand on her leg.

Damian and Steph spent the next two hours hammering out the mission tacticals and hypotheticals and parentheses, with occasional tangents into the social habits of cattle, only pausing when Jason forced another one of Alfred's cookies on them. Which he began doing more and more frequently the longer he drove, because how much planning did this heist really take?

Find a trailer. Dismantle the probably minimal cow security - he couldn't imagine that cow theft was a big problem at dairy farms. Sneak in at night, herd the cows, flee the scene. Basic. But Damian and Steph were enjoying themselves and even if it was annoying, Steph was awfully cute when she was excited about something and it was nice to see the kid so happy for a change.

But it was still with a sense of relief that Jason pulled into the Comfort Inn parking lot at 4 a.m.

"Come on, bovine burglars," he said to them with a yawn. "Sleepy time."

"Does this hotel accept dogs?" Damian asked.

"Does it have a waffle bar for breakfast?" Steph said.

"Yes and yes," Jason said.

"Really?" Steph asked in surprise.

"Yes, really," he said as they got out of the truck. "I looked it up back in Gotham while we were at your house waiting for you to get changed."

"You knew I liked waffles?" Steph said to him, now really curious, because in all honesty, she and Jason had rarely interacted since his resurrection. The fact that he'd tried to kill her then-boyfriend Tim Drake had put quite the damper on their friendship potential, even if he had been hopped up on Lazarus Pit rage at the time, and since then, the Bats had done nothing but warn her away from him.

So even after she and Tim had broken up, Steph certainly wasn't going to go out of her way to spend time with the lone wolf of the Batclan, not that he would have welcomed her company in the first place. When they did cross paths as Red Hood and Batgirl, Jason was usually aloof if not dismissive. Tonight's rapid reversal of that situation had been a shock, but a smoking hot one that she didn't mind at. all.

Steph hadn't dated since Tim had dumped her six months ago, telling her not once but twice that he no longer trusted her. Which was a load of bullshit if Steph had ever heard one. She had been nothing but loyal - but Tim couldn't forgive her for doing everything B had asked her to. Even if he did the exact same thing when it came to B!

To be honest, Tim had broken her heart. He had been not only her longtime boyfriend, but her best friend. For him to accuse her of betrayal - and refuse to understand her actions - Steph had been raw inside for months afterwards. She hadn't felt like dating at first, and when she finally started to think about it a few months ago, her blanket of scars from Black Mask made her tamp that desire right back down. How could she explain those to any normal person?

Jason's kiss earlier had been more than welcome. Yeah, she'd never thought of dating him before, even though he was objectively hot (those thighs, she thought to herself dreamily) but if he was interested? She definitely was. They could get to know each other. That part wasn't that big of a deal in Steph's mind, because the biggest piece was already there. They were both Bats.

"I informed Todd of your preference for waffles," Damian said, bringing Steph's thoughts back to the present as they each grabbed a duffel bag from the back of the truck. Jason had loaded them up with all of the gear they might conceivably need for a retrieval mission, everything from bolt cutters to smoke grenades to road tacks for disabling pursuing vehicles.

"Oh," Steph said. "Thanks, Damian," she smiled.

She hadn't realized that he knew her that well. She was rewarded with the tiniest of smiles back from Damian as he clipped Titus's leash on in the parking lot. Hm. Maybe Damian was warming up to her, too. Steph supposed that befriending Batcow had raised her up a couple of levels in the tiny Robin's estimation.

The lobby was empty except for the night clerk as they walked in and it was easy to get checked into a double room, which Jason paid for with cash. Of course. The clerk tried to fuss about needing a credit card on file until Jason had handed him another wad of cash "as a retainer" he said with a wink. The fussing had stopped and they had gotten their room keys.

Damian set about putting out water and food for Titus while Steph changed into her pyjamas in the bathroom.

"Breakfast only goes until ten," Jason informed her when she came out and saw him setting the alarm. "We can go back to bed after," he said. "Then do recon."

"Sounds good," Steph said, crawling into one of the double beds and pulling the covers up.

Damian emerged from the bathroom a moment later and took the second bed and Titus jumped on it after him. When Jason finished his turn, he pulled a handgun out before turning off the lights.

"Paranoid much?" Steph asked him with a laugh.

"Pays to be prepared," Jason said calmly, laying the gun on the nightstand before crawling into bed next to her.

"Oh," Steph said softly. "Hi."

"Is this ok?" he asked her quietly. "The dog is in the kid's bed."

"It's fine," Steph said with a smile in her voice. "More than fine," she added as Jason snuggled up behind her to spoon her.

"That's what I like to hear, Blondie," Jason whispered in her ear as he wrapped his arm tightly around her waist and settled her against his legs and chest. "Quite the first date, so far," he added, and Steph giggled.

"Wait until the cow-napping starts," she said.

"Stop flirting and go to sleep," Damian said from across the room. "We all must be fully alert for tomorrow's endeavor."

"Yes, Dad," Jason teased him.

"That's 'yes, Batman,' to you, Todd," Damian said back. Steph snorted.

"You wish, Robin."

"Tt," Damian said. "As the most senior member of the Batfamily present, my role has been upgraded to Batman for this mission."

"No way," Jason said. "I'm the most senior Robin present. That makes me Batman."

"You died as Robin. That eliminates you from contention," Damian explained.

"Rude," said Jason.

"Well, I was Robin, too," Steph said. "And I didn't die," she said. "As Robin. Exactly." Jason was chuckling against the back of her head. "So I'm more senior than you, Damian."

"No," he said. "You were fired as Robin. Then died. Unsuccessfully. You are out of the running. I am Batman."

"Let's put it to a vote," Jason said. "Who says Damian is Robin?"

"Me," Steph said.

"Me," said Jason.

"Not me," said Damian. "And not Titus. It is a tie. And as Batman, I have the right to break the tie. And I say I am Batman."

"I say that I have the truck keys," said Jason. "And only me and Steph can drive the truck because you can't reach the pedals. No truck, no cows. You're Robin." Damian growled.

"We're all Robins, ok?" Steph said. "Titus can be Batman." Damian paused.

"Acceptable," he finally said.

"Good," Jason grumbled, but he sounded like he was trying not to laugh. "Go to sleep."

"Good night, D," Steph added.

"Good night," he said.

Batman thumped his tail on the bed with pride.

* * *

_Coming tomorrow - The next chapter! For Batfam Week 2020 Day 4 prompt: __**Robins**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**For Batfam Week 2020**_

_Day 4 Prompts: __**Robins**__ | De-Aging | Reverse Batfam AU_

* * *

Jason smacked snooze as soon as the alarm went off in the morning and snuggled closer to Stephanie, who returned the favor.

"Morning," she whispered sleepily as she nestled deeper into his big spoon. And - oh. His morning wood. Too bad Damian was here, Steph thought wistfully as she heard the youngest Robin getting up, disdaining to snooze for seven extra minutes. Steph's regret must have come out in a sigh, because Jason was chuckling softly in her ear.

"We have to bring Damian, you said," he quietly teased her.

"Yeah, yeah," Steph smiled into her pillow as Jason lazily stroked her stomach. "I'm the Robin who got fired. I give terrible advice," she giggled. Jason's silent laugh vibrated against her back and Steph thought how cozy she felt and how nice it was to wake up in someone's arms and how infrequently that had happened back when she was with Tim.

Between his time with the Teen Titans, and her time-out in Africa, and them being in high school before that, and her still living at home afterwards, they hadn't had much alone time together when they weren't in the suits. In fact, they hadn't even had sex. Steph would have, but Tim wasn't ready and she respected that. He'd seen firsthand the accidental consequences that sex could bring in the early days of their friendship, although Steph had experienced those consequences firsthand, and that was a lot worse, she thought with a pang.

Her thoughts drifted to her baby like they did every morning before she could get up and stay busy enough to push them away for one more day. She sighed a little deeper this time, willing herself to focus on the wall of muscle that she was snuggled up against instead. But that muscular wall was surprisingly sensitive, it seemed.

"You ok?" Jason asked her with concern. "You're sad all of a sudden," he said.

Steph froze. He'd picked up on that? _Don't cry don't cry don'tcrydon'tcrydon'tcry_, her brain ordered her eyes, because Steph was not used to anyone except Cass and, formerly, Tim caring enough about her to notice little things like her being sad.

It was unexpectedly sweet and Steph wasn't used to sweetness and empathy and definitely not around the subject of her baby who everyone else seemed to have forgotten that she'd even had five years ago. Out of sight, out of mind for them, she supposed. For Steph, it was more like out of sight, always on her mind. Especially first thing in the morning.

"Yeah, um, just remembering some things," she whispered, blinking rapidly. Without warning, Jason rolled her over into his chest and wrapped her up tight in a giant burrito-like hug, trapping her with his legs, too, and almost squeezing the breath out of her with his arms.

"I got you," he said gently, though, looking down at her, and his blue eyes were so soft with not only concern, but understanding, that Steph got a lump in her throat.

Shit, she was gonna fall for him, wasn't she.

"I'm taking Batman out," Damian announced, slamming the door shut as he and his dog left the motel room.

"You want to talk about it?" Jason asked Steph as she kept trying to keep her tears at bay. She swallowed hard before attempting to speak.

"I just, I think about my baby the most when I first wake up," she said with a sniff. Jason looked at her curiously, confusion etched on his face.

"You had a baby?" he asked her. "Was that when I was dead?"

"Oh," Steph said, not taking offense that he didn't know about it now that she considered the timeframe. Since he'd come back to life, Jason was almost as out of the loop with the Bats as she was, so what were the chances that they'd gossiped to him about her teenage pregnancy that they all now pretended hadn't happened, anway?

"Yeah, it was when you were dead. Or with Talia. Sometime in there," she said.

"How old were you?" Jason asked her.

"Fifteen," Steph muttered. Jason gave a low whistle.

"Wow, Blondie," he said. "That was brave." And Steph's heart beat a little prouder, because Jason sounded like he admired her. Which was a refreshing change to how new people usually took the news.

"Did you give it up?" he asked. "Or -" he paused, not wanting to ask if the baby had died.

"I gave her up," Steph sighed. "I thought a lot about keeping her," she said, "but I kept having nightmares that my dad's enemies would find us and kill her and I wanted her to be safe."

Jason was quiet for a minute and appeared lost in thought. Steph looked up at him. He came to and met her eyes.

"You're a great mom," he told her sincerely, although his voice was a little rough. Steph's tears started to flow.

"I was barely a mom at all," she protested in a choked voice but Jason jerked her sharply.

"Bullshit!" he said strongly. "Once a mom, always a mom. You protected your kid and you miss her and you love her. You know what my birth mom did? She lured me to Ethiopia to get killed by Joker."

"Oh," Steph said softly, and she hugged Jason tighter. "That's horrible," she said with venomous disgust.

"You are a good mom, Steph," Jason repeated to her. "And a good person," he added. Their eyes locked and electricity flowed between them, fueled by mutual anger and grief and pain and respect and then Jason was fiercely kissing her and Steph was passionately kissing him right back.

The snooze alarm went off with gratingly loud beeps. They tried to ignore it for a second, but it was too annoying.

"Goddammit," Jason grumbled as he let Steph go and reached over to turn it off. He sighed as he looked down at the flushed and panting Steph tangled up in his arms and legs before he lifted both hands to brush her hair back from her face.

"If we don't get up, we'll miss out on waffles," he said sadly. Steph managed a smile.

"That would be a tragedy," she said, "but you should be flattered because if Damian and Titus weren't coming right back I'd almost suggest staying in bed."

"Only almost?" Jason teased her as Steph pushed off of his chest to sit up.

"Waffles and I are in a long-term relationship, Jason," she said with reverence. "I've barely started dating you."

"I didn't realize I was entering into a polyamorous relationship," Jason said with a grin as he got up. "Aren't you supposed to share details like that up front with a new partner?"

"It's more like a spiritual relationship than polyamory," Steph said thoughtfully as she walked to the bathroom. "Waffles are meant to be worshipped."

"By devouring them?" Jason laughed as she started brushing her teeth in front of the bathroom sink. He bumped her over with his hip so he could grab his toothbrush, too. "What kind of deity is this that we serve?"

"A delicious one," Steph smirked. Jason grinned at her with a mouth full of toothpaste and happiness hit Steph like a batarang to the heart, sharp and poignant and impossible to ignore. She reached up for Jason's head with the hand that wasn't holding her toothbrush and pulled him down for a ridiculously foamy kiss. He laughed into it but didn't resist.

Damian and Titus came back at that moment and Steph and Jason just barely had time to pull away from each other while he unlocked the door. He looked at the giggling couple with messy mouths full of toothpaste suspiciously as he came into the room.

"I leave you alone for ten minutes," he huffed. "And you lose all focus. Batman is very disappointed in you, aren't you, boy?" he asked Titus the dog. Titus whined pitifully in agreement and Damian sharply nodded his head.

"Hmph," he said. "Hurry up. I'm hungry."

"What was that kiss for?" Jason asked Steph quietly after they had both finished rinsing their mouths out.

"This feels really good," Steph said with a warm smile up into his eyes. "You and me. I like it."

"I like it too, Blondie," Jason said with a grin, giving her another quick kiss. "Hurry up and get dressed. Waffles are waiting."

Breakfast did not disappoint, although Jason and Steph had to take turns at the sole waffle iron, but there was whipped cream and strawberries to top them with. Damian opted out, however.

"I'm a vegan now," he announced as he ate his oatmeal and fruit. "I was unaware of the tragic fates of dairy cows until this… vacation," he said carefully, noting the presence of a few other diners in the small lobby, although the trio of Robins had cautiously seated themselves as far from the other guests as possible.

"I'm so glad you're not a vegan or vegetarian, baby," Jason said to Steph, whose heart melted a little bit at his term of endearment.

"Would you still have dated me?" she asked him mischievously. He groaned a little bit.

"I mean… I would have _wanted _to," he said. "Would I have? I don't know. The logistics would have been difficult to work out."

"Tt," Damian said, righteously peeling an orange. "Typical carnivore response." Jason and Steph looked at him.

"At least he didn't say 'typical male response'?" Steph offered after a minute and Jason laughed.

"So what's the plan?" Jason said. "Are we gonna sleep a little more and then scout, or what?"

"We should leave right after breakfast," Damian said. "Farmhands typically get an early start to their day."

"I guess that makes sense," Steph said. "Then we can nap this afternoon before our nocturnal activities."

"All right," Jason said easily.

As soon as they finished eating, but not before Damian pocketed several more bananas and a handful of apples and Steph loaded up her arms with mini cereal boxes and milk cartons, did the Robins head back to their room to pick up Batman.

"Didn't Alfred pack us enough snacks for about a month?" Jason asked the two junior birds when he had to be the one to unlock the room due to their hands being full of food. Damian and Steph gave him the same scornful look this time.

"You should never neglect an opportunity to replenish your supplies, Todd," Damian scolded him.

"And Alfred didn't give us any cereal," Steph added. "Look - they had Frosted Flakes _and _Corn Pops," she said with a connoisseur's true delight.

Jason was rolling his eyes at Damian, but he couldn't help adding a little crinkle to the corner of his lips for Steph, who was so damn cute he almost couldn't stand it, because she made him want to toss the truck keys to Damian and push him out the door so he could kiss his girl senseless. Among other things.

What the hell had the Replacement been thinking, breaking up with her? Jason was mystified but not complaining. His gain, after all, and he already knew that he wasn't going to be so stupid as to let her go. He'd already liked her, but after this morning? The way they'd bonded like that? And how happy she'd looked when she gave him that goofy kiss in the bathroom? Yeah, Jason was falling hard.

"Grab the dog and let's go," he said to Damian, forcing his mind back on the mission. The sooner they stole those cows, the sooner he got Steph to himself.

"Wait," Damian said. "Examine the map of the farm layout before we go. I have marked it with the relevant items that we must recon during daylight hours."

"You have a map?" Steph said with surprise. Damian gave her a sly smile.

"It was online," he said. "Which bodes well for the level of security we can expect to find." Jason laughed.

"I'm with you there, kid," he said, moving to sit next to Damian on the bed so they could look at his tablet together. Steph sat on Damian's other side as he began pointing out key features.

"The main gate, here," he said. "We must note its locking mechanisms and look for alarm wires. The shed is here on the right where we can expect to find the transport trailer and the pen with mothers and calves is here," he pointed. "We must scope out the possibility of watchmen and guards as well as overnight staff this evening before entering," he added.

"All right," Jason said thoughtfully. "Let's head out there and find a good spot for a stake out. Bring Titus's food and water."

"Batman's," Damian interjected but Jason kept talking.

"We might end up needing to stay all day so we can watch what happens when the main shift leaves," he said.

"We'll need Alfred's cooler, then, so we can eat," Steph said. "And your gear bags, too," she added. Jason thought for a minute.

"Let's take everything with us now," he said. "Just in case we don't come back. We're paid up for one more night so they won't be bothering us here before tomorrow morning."

With the plan laid out, the Robins quickly packed the room. Jason pulled out Lysol wipes when they were finished and began cleaning off every surface where they might have conceivably left fingerprints.

"Our DNA is still all over, you know," Steph teased him. "Hairs, dog hairs, skin cells…"

"We do what we can," Jason said without humor, causing Steph to raise an eyebrow and give him a look.

"You _should_ have been Batman," she said. He threw the pile of dirty wipes at her, causing her to yelp before she picked one up to fling back at him. Titus barked.

"Batman is chastising you," Damian said severely. "Cease this foolishness at once and let us be on our way." Still giggling, Steph helped Jason pick the remaining used wipes off the floor. Their eyes met as they bent over the wastebasket and Jason's were warm and playful and soft as they looked into hers and Steph felt her insides turn to jelly.

Damian's impatient sigh brought them back to the present and they straightened up and grabbed the rest of the duffel bags and the cooler to head out.

Once in the pickup, Jason drove them out to the dairy farm, carefully following the speed limit. He casually drove past the main entrance so that they could get the lay of the land and find an appropriate stakeout position.

"The woods across the street will work," Jason said. "We can park the truck in there off road," he said, turning down the first side street he saw and driving a ways back before pulling off into the forest. He carefully drove far enough in that the truck wouldn't be visible from the road, then parked.

"Of course Bruce has a green truck," he muttered. "Never know when a billionaire's mountain outing might turn into a camo op," he said.

"Well, it's good for us," Steph giggled. "Although I don't think stealing cows was on his list of reasons for choosing a forest green paint job."

"I can only recall Father using this truck on one occasion," Damian said thoughtfully as he and Titus descended from the cab and Jason and Steph started grabbing the cooler and one of Jason's gear bags. "I belive he purchased it just for the event."

"It was a Wayne Enterprises employee bonding seminar in the mountains. Ugh," Damian shivered as he picked up the three sleeping bags. "All of those inept civilians who thought that sleeping in fully furnished cabins outfitted with electricity and modern plumbing qualified as roughing it."

"Why did you have to go?" Steph asked him curiously. Jason snorted.

"So Pops could cut out early, I bet," he said.

"Indeed," Damian confirmed. "I contracted lyme disease," he said with pride.

"Not really," Steph said in horror.

"Of course not," Damian scoffed. "As if I do not know how to perform a proper tick check."

"Which we'll all have to do after this stakeout, by the way," Jason reminded them. Steph wrinkled her nose.

"What's the matter, Blondie?" Jason teased her. "Wasn't it your idea to go camping, oh city slicker, mine?"

"Shut up," she said, but she was laughing. "I've lived in African villages, you know. Doesn't mean I like ticks. But at least we didn't completely lie to Alfred now that we're actually in the woods."

Jason laughed as they set out through the trees back towards the road. Once they got within eyesight, the three Robins carefully laid down and began crawling through the brush in case an odd car happened by, although the road appeared fairly deserted. Steph nudged Jason's ankle and he looked over his shoulder to see that Batman, too, was crawling on his stomach next to his Robin.

"Well trained dog you got there, D," Jason said with a slight chuckle.

"Naturally," said Damian.

Once they were in position, Damian began unrolling the sleeping bags for them to lay on while Steph handed out the binoculars. Jason opened the cooler and began passing out snacks.

"Ooo, deviled eggs," Steph said. "And there's bacon on top."

"Shame you're a vegan, D," Jason said to him with a grin. "Oh well, more for us," he said cheerfully to Steph who nodded happily in agreement. Damian sniffed.

"My superior morals are naturally a cause for jealousy," he said. "Pass me my couscous salad."

At first all three of the Robins kept eyes on the dairy farm, but as time slipped by, Jason suggested that they rotate the watch so that two could nap at a time. Sometime around five p.m., Damian started poking him and Steph, who were curled up together, asleep.

"Employees are leaving," he hissed at them.

"Ok," Jason mumbled reaching out to grab the binoculars. Steph yawned and pulled hers to her eyes as well. A steady trickle of cars departed for some time, until finally, after a longer pause, an SUV pulled out but stopped as a man emerged from the driver's seat. He slid the gate shut and padlocked a thick chain.

Damian and Jason had to bury their faces in their arms to hide their laughter.

"It's not even an electric gate!" Damian giggled, sounding almost childlike for once in his life.

"Oof," Jason said. "Barbed wire on top of a ten-foot chain link fence doesn't do ya any good if a pair of bolt clippers will get you in the front door."

"No watchtowers," Steph said.

"It's not a prison, babe," Jason said, laughing.

"It is for the cows," Steph said back, her eyes gleaming. "And we are their freedom fighting liberators." Damian nodded in agreement.

"There's a camera, at least one, anyway," Steph went on, motioning to the very obvious camera posted on top of the shockingly low tech main gate.

"Ok," Jason said. "I'm thinking we wait until it's good and dark, then pack the truck back up. Do some legwork recon to see if there's a night watchman, then make our jailbreak." The other two Robins nodded in agreement.

"Batman?" Damian asked Titus. "Your thoughts?" The dog wagged his tail enthusiastically.

"Plan approved," Damian announced.

Promptly at midnight, a tiny figure dressed all in black, wearing a black ski mask for good measure, climbed to the top of the gate and cut the wires to the security camera.

"Red5 to Red2, over," he whispered into his walkie talkie.

"Red2 here, over," Jason answered from the cab of the truck where Steph and Titus sat beside him. "Status?"

"We are a go, Red2. I repeat, we are a go. Over."

"Copy that," Steph said into her walkie talkie as Jason pulled out of the woods with the headlights turned off.

"Red4, it is not protocol to respond to another agent's call sign," Damian said with irritation evident in his voice.

"You forgot to say over," Steph said back. The hiss that came back over the comms was definitely not static on the line. "Good boy, Titus," Steph said, rubbing his head as he whined a little bit. "Your master is annoying sometimes, I know," she said. Jason grunted in agreement.

"Wonder who he got that from?" he asked Steph.

"Well, you know what they say…" Steph teased him.

"Like father, like son?" he said with her with a little laugh.

"Uh huh," Steph said with a grin.

Jason pulled up to the gate and left the motor running as he jumped out and quickly cut the padlock. He and Damian pushed the gate open so that Steph, who had slid into the driver's seat, could pull inside the farm. The boys pushed the gate closed again after her and jumped into the back of the truck.

"The trailer shed should be over to the right," Jason reminded her through the back window of the cab as she slowly started to drive over the dirt ground.

"There it is," Damian whispered, poking her shoulder as it began to loom in front of them.

"I see it," Steph hissed back. "Stop poking me."

Jason jumped out again with the bolt cutters and dismantled the shed lock as easily as he had the front gate's. He pushed the door open and clicked on a penlight as Damian jumped out to join him.

"How many cows can we fit in this?" Jason asked him as he shone the light on the white bumper pull trailer which looked to be about twelve feet long. Damian considered.

"I think, since we are liberating mothers and calves together… perhaps two of each would be wisest," he said. "We should not overburden ourselves on our first heist."

"Right," Jason said, giving him side-eye that was completely wasted in the dark. "Because we'll be repeating this operation _so _many more times," he said sarcastically.

"Not before obtaining pigs," Damian reminded him, missing the sarcasm completely. Jason groaned but he pulled the safety chains out of the back of the truck.

"Back it up, babe," he said to Steph. "I'll tell you when to stop."

"Ok," she grinned, her eyes sparkling in the moonlight. Jason smiled back at her and leaned in the window to kiss her before she started to turn the truck around. She slowly backed it up towards the trailer as Jason and Damian guided her.

"That's good," Jason called out quietly. "Let's get this hooked up," he said. Steph got out of the cab to watch as Jason quietly connected the hitch and then attached the safety chains.

"You just had the safety chains lying around at home?" Steph asked him. He shrugged.

"A man's got to be prepared for anything," he said.

"Yeah, you're totally B's son," she said back. Jason smirked and swatted her backside as he moved past her into the cab again.

"Shh!" Damian said with annoyance, although Steph had muffled her yelp. She sighed loudly. Jason pulled the truck forward slowly, testing to make sure the trailer was properly attached.

"I think we're in business," he said. "Hop in." Damian and Steph clambered into the back as Jason took off towards the cattle pen with the nursing mothers. Which, unfortunately, would become childless milking mothers within days, as soon as the next veal transport truck arrived for the latest batch of babies.

"All right, D," Jason said as he pulled up to the pen. "You and Batman are up."

"Codenames!" Damian hissed. "Shame on you, Red2!"

"Right," Jason sighed. "Let's get the cows and get out of here, ok?" he said impatiently.

Damian pulled his rope coils out of the pickup and opened the passenger door for Titus to join him. He walked with confidence up to the fenced corridor bordering the tiny individual outdoor stalls. Some calves could be heard crying softly and suckling, but for the most part, the farm was quiet except for the swishing of the cow's tails and the chewing of their cud.

Damian paced up and down the row quickly, appraising his potential new pets. He looked down at Titus and the two seemed to silently consult.

"What if the cows charge him?" Steph asked Jason, suddenly feeling a little nervous.

"I've got my guns ready," he said calmly, patting his holsters. Steph groaned.

Titus stopped in front of one of the pens and began wagging his tail. Damian climbed up the slats of the metal fence and reached his hand out to the large cow who was staring at him curiously as her baby nursed. Damian appeared to be talking to her and then he slipped the lasso over her neck. He walked along the rail of the fence to reach her calf, waiting to jump in beside it until the mother was facing forward again instead of watching him.

He quickly pulled the calf's mouth off of its mother's teat and lassoed its neck before replacing it right back on its milk source. The calf had barely had time to cry out before it was happily suckling again and Damian was out of the pen and the mother seemed barely ruffled. Damian was holding both leads in his hand as he calmly opened the gate.

"Oh, shit," Steph whispered. "Here we go."

Damian tugged on the two ropes. Initially, nothing happened.

"There goes our heist," Jason whispered.

But Damian began tugging harder on the calf's lead and issued a command to Titus. Like a Batblur, Titus ran into the pen and nipped at the calf's legs. It bleated and trotted forward to Damian, who was still tugging insistently on its rope. The mother quickly began following her calf and the next thing Jason and Steph knew, Damian was running in front of both cows with Titus nipping at their heels. He led them straight along the run towards the back of the trailer, dropping the ropes and dodging to the side when they got close. Steph dropped the trailer door shut as soon as they were safely inside.

"Wow," she said with admiration. "I almost thought you weren't going to be able to get them to come."

"Tt," Damian said. "Two more to rescue."

A few hours later, when Jason could see the dingy lights of Gotham on the horizon, he couldn't help but smile to himself as he looked across the truck cab to his two sleeping co-Robins, one of whom was slumped most adorably against his shoulder, and the passed out Batman, who even Jason had to admit was being pretty cute at the moment as he pawed at the air in his sleep. Jason glanced up in the rearview mirror to the four shadowy cow outlines that were swaying in the trailer.

"Welcome to Gotham, Cowbirds," he said quietly. "If you all have to share the name Robin, don't come complaining to me."

* * *

_Coming tomorrow - The next chapter! For Batfam Week 2020 - Day 5 prompt: **Insecurities**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**For Batfam Week 2020**_

Day 5 Prompts: **Insecurities** | Identity Reveal | Keeping Up With The Waynes AU

_Trigger Warning: Lemons ahead. And, references to Black Mask's violence against Steph, which had sexualized overtones (but wasn't rape). _

* * *

Once the Robincows were successfully unloaded into the Wayne Manor barn, much to Batcow's great surprise and delight, Damian announced that he and Batman would be spending the night in the barn with them to help them settle in.

"Isn't his name Titus again now?" Jason said as he got a sleeping bag out of the truck for Damian to use.

"Tt," Damian said. "The mission is not over until the cows have acclimated to their new home. Or Father discovers their presence and usurps Batman the Dog's role."

"Fair enough," Jason said. "Me and Steph are gonna go hide the trailer. We'll bring Bruce's truck back tomorrow."

Steph was cooing over Batcow who was gently curious about her new companions, lowing softly at them. The new cows seemed much less afraid of Batcow than of the trio of humans standing in the barn. In fact, one of the mothers was anxiously covering her calf with straw and the other was blocking her calf with her body so that the Robins couldn't get to him.

"They are afraid we are going to take their babies away from them again," Damian said with a touch of sadness in his voice as he petted Titus's head. "It must have happened so many times."

"Well, it'll never happen again," Steph comforted him, laying her hand on his shoulder. Damian nodded, blinking a little bit.

"You and Todd should go," he said to Steph. "It will reduce their anxiety."

"Don't have to tell me twice," Jason said, tugging on Steph's hand with a hungry look. Damian rolled his eyes.

"We'll see you tomorrow, D," Steph giggled as Jason pulled her out of the barn.

"You do want to stay over tonight, right?" Jason asked her as he drove Bruce's truck, with cattle trailer still attached, through the darkened and crime-riddled streets of Gotham.

"Um, yes," Steph said with a little laugh. "Definitely."

"Good," Jason smiled at her and reached over to squeeze her thigh, since Steph had conveniently seated herself next to him in the middle seat again instead of on the passenger side of the cab. She sighed happily and wrapped herself around his arm before snuggling her head into his shoulder.

"This was so much fun," Steph said with contentment. "Thank you for being my fellow freedom fighter, Jason," she said and a warm chuckle escaped his lips.

"Anytime, Blondie," he said.

"Tim never would have done this with me," Steph said thoughtfully.

"No?" Jason asked her, a pleased smile turning up the corners of his mouth. Steph shook her head against his arm.

"Never," she said firmly. "He would have laughed at me like I was making a cute joke. And if I tried to get him to see that I really wanted to do it, I would have gotten a patient, patronizing lecture about breaking the law. As if we don't break the law every single night as Bats," she grumbled.

"It means a lot that you went along with it, Jase," Steph said. The warmest bubbly feeling filled his chest.

"I thought you were adorable _because_ you were serious," Jason told her honestly. "You're cute and crazy and come up with wild ideas that are totally fun and that's what makes you awesome, Steph," he said, turning his head so he could kiss her temple as he drove.

"Thanks," she said softly, and Jason could feel her smiling. "I really like you," she said after a minute.

"I really like you, too," Jason grinned.

They sat in comfortable silence for awhile as Jason drove them through downtown Gotham and made his way towards Crime Alley. He finally pulled up to a graffitied and sketchy looking metal garage door of an apparently abandoned gas station.

"Sit tight," he told Steph, jumping out to open it up. Steph noticed that despite the more obvious grate and chains and low-tech locks securing the garage, there were also subtly upgraded security additions of retinal scanners and numeric keypads, too.

Jason hopped back in the truck and turned it around to back the trailer in first, getting out again to disconnect the hitch before pulling forward and backing Bruce's truck in next to it. Steph climbed out as he slammed the grates and locks and doors back into place from the inside.

"Welcome to Todd Manor," Jason said with a grin and a bow.

"Look at you, so refined," Steph giggled. "Alfred would be proud."

Jason smiled as he grabbed the cooler out of the back of the truck and Steph grabbed the duffel bag with their clothes.

"Come on up to the habitable part," he told her, leading her up the stairs on the back interior wall of the garage bay to a locked steel door.

After disabling another round of security, Jason opened it and led Steph into a surprisingly decent apartment. It had actual non-asbestos linoleum covering the floors. The walls, while still a dingy white, didn't have any holes punched out of them.

The quality of Jason's furniture helped make up for lack of polished bones, too: his black leather sofa looked ridiculously comfortable; a huge tv was on one wall of the living room; the matching black bookshelves, while clearly from IKEA, weren't missing any shelves and were stuffed full of paperbacks; and the cozy red blackout curtains which were hanging over all of the windows matched the plush red area rug.

"This is nice," Steph said sincerely. Jason glanced at her and relaxed a little bit when he saw that she meant it and wasn't just being polite.

"It's not Wayne Manor," he said apologetically. Steph looked at him.

"Like that's what I grew up with," she said. "This is way nicer than the house we lived in. I didn't grow up too far from here," she said.

"Oh," said Jason in surprise. "Another kid from the Narrows, huh. No wonder we get along," he teased her.

"No wonder we just committed a cow-napping together," Steph laughed and Jason joined in as he started unloading the massive amount of Alfred's leftovers into the refrigerator in the tiny galley kitchen.

"So, don't take this the wrong way," Steph said. "But I want to shower alone, ok? I am way too gross from laying in the woods all day to feel sexy yet." Jason smiled.

"Go ahead, babe," he said. "Just save me some hot water."

"Will do," Steph said, reaching up to give him a quick kiss. Jason's eyes got warmer and the heated look he gave Steph made her bite her lip. "I'll be fast," she said.

"Uh huh," said Jason, trailing his hand down to stroke her hip before Steph giggled and pulled away.

"Really fast," she called over her shoulder.

Jason smiled to himself as he quickly put the rest of the food away before heading to the bedroom. He groaned in anticipation as he kicked off his boots and stripped down to his pants. How the fuck did he get so lucky, he thought to himself. The Replacement was clearly an idiot to dump her but Jason wasn't one to dwell on someone else's loss when it was his gain.

Because Steph was making his heart do crazy things and it seemed like he was not alone in feeling that way. For maybe the first time since he'd come back from the dead, Jason Todd was actually feeling hopeful about his future. And not just hopeful, if he was honest. Excited.

The shower cut off and a few minutes later Steph emerged from the bathroom, one of his towels wrapped around her body while her long blonde hair dripped water down her back. Jason growled in the back of his throat.

"I'll shower really fast," he told her, limiting himself to the quickest of kisses as his cock hardened and urged him to hurry up and get naked with his girl.

"I'll be waiting," Steph said with a sexy smile. Jason smiled back into her eyes and was in the bathroom and scrubbing himself off in the shower in record time, thinking happy thoughts and considering the not unwelcome fact that he'd never liked anyone he'd fucked in the past as much as he liked Steph.

He didn't bother with a towel around his waist when he emerged from the bathroom and he was rewarded with Steph's impressed, near drooling gaze as she got her first look at his sharply ripped body and, Jason dared to hope, his not unimpressive cock, as she sat in his bed with the sheet pulled up over her chest and blatantly checked him out.

"Wow," Steph said dreamily as he walked (well, strutted, really) towards the bed. "Your muscles, babe," she said, reaching a hand out to feel the defined ridges of his pecs and abs as he climbed into bed over the covers to land next to her.

"This is what I was sleeping next to last night, huh," she said, sliding her hands up to his bulging shoulders and biceps.

"This is what you can be sleeping next to every night, if you want," Jason said with a grin, rolling onto his side to face her. Steph glanced at him consideringly.

"Are you serious?" she asked him.

"Totally serious," Jason said easily. "You live with your mom and our nightly extra-curricular activities are gonna make getting together tricky if you have to be checking in with her about where you are all the time…" he shrugged.

"If you want to move in, it'll be easier for both of us. And I, for one, will be happier getting to see you more," he said, reaching up to stroke her cheek. "But it's totally up to you," he said. "I get if you don't want to yet."

"I do," Steph said with a big smile. "I will. Living at home is the worst," she laughed. "Especially with being Batgirl. And trying to be Batgirl _and _date? Yeah, no, I'm more than happy to move in. Thank you," she said gratefully but Jason chuckled.

"Thank _you_, babe," he said, catching her lips in a kiss, which he would have deepened but Steph pulled back for a second.

"You're going to have to meet my mom, though, if I tell her I'm moving in with you," she cautioned him. "And come up with a good cover story about a reliable job."

"I can do that," Jason grinned.

"Ok, then," said Steph with a smile.

"Ok," Jason said back, reaching for her head with both hands to pull her into a steamy kiss. Steph moaned into it as his tongue pressed into her mouth and began pumping lazy strokes against hers.

The tiny somersaults that Steph's stomach had been doing around Jason since he first kissed her in Batcow's barn turned into full on flip flops as they made out, and Jason was moaning against her mouth, too, and Steph was feeling it all the way down to her clit as they finally kissed each other the way they already would have been had it not been for their tiny chaperone's presence over the past few days.

Steph was wet by the time Jason started to slide a hand down to tug the sheet off of her breasts, but she grabbed his hand urgently to stop him.

"Blondie?" he said with concern, drawing back from their kiss with a furrowed brow.

"It's just, um," Steph said, suddenly nervous. "My scars are way worse there. Like super ugly worse. I want you to be prepared," she mumbled. "It's pretty revolting."

Jason's heart flooded with hurt. When they were at the hotel, he'd seen the remnants of Black Mask's torture along her arms where he'd clearly attacked her with a power drill, and those mementos were horrifying enough. Not for how they looked; Jason cared less about the appearance of scars.

But he'd been shaken to see the physical evidence of what Steph had gone through at that sadist's hands, even though he hadn't wanted to say anything about it with Damian there and with Steph seemingly unselfconscious enough about her arms to wear a short-sleeved t-shirt to bed. But now she looked insecure and it wrenched Jason's heart.

"Baby," he said, moving his hand lower to stroke her hip through the sheet. "You're beautiful. No matter what they look like." Steph looked supremely unconvinced.

"You won't say that once you see them," she muttered.

"Well, can I see them, then?" Jason asked her gently. "And make up my own mind?" Steph sighed, chewing on her lip and Jason could see the nervous tears filling up her eyes.

"Look, we can turn the lights off if you want," he said kindly as he rubbed a soothing pattern up and down her side. "But, I think you should let me see them first. So you're not all anxious wondering what I'm gonna think whenever I finally do see them." Steph hesitated.

"Ok," she whispered. She took a slow breath and pulled the sheet down. Jason inhaled deeply through his nose and felt his own tears start. Because Sionis had butchered his girl.

No wonder Bruce had believed Leslie when Dr. Thompkins had claimed that Steph had died from her injuries, because there were jagged scars running through and around both of her breasts, and scars through her stomach and pelvis, and she looked like Frankenstein's monster, her skin a patchwork of rough edges and mottled skin.

"If Cat hadn't already killed him, I would," Jason said grimly as he lightly traced his fingertips over the indented roadmap of abuse while his tears fell. "Shit, Steph," he said in horror.

She gulped back some tears.

"It's hideous, right?" she said with a forced laugh.

"It's hideous what he did to you and what you went through," Jason said, looking up to meet her eyes with a fiery intensity, "but all I see is a beautiful survivor," he said, bending down to kiss over the scars on her breasts.

Steph let out a short sob but then she was cradling his head lightly with her hands as he kissed his way along the paths of her injuries, although soon he was kissing everywhere on her breasts, but still with so much tenderness that Steph knew she was hopelessly falling for him.

But the freefall felt safe instead of terrifying, because it seemed that no matter how much deeper Steph got dragged under into the current of her growing emotions, Jason was right there with her, getting swept along just as fast. Steph sniffed away her tears and bent down to kiss Jason's hair as he started licking over one of her nipples and it wasn't long before her hands were tugging through his locks as he sucked it into his mouth.

"Fuck, Jason," she moaned, feeling her shame melt away into arousal. She felt him smile against her as he tugged the sheet the rest of the way off of her and moved over to straddle her legs.

"You're gorgeous," he told her, lifting his head back up for a second. "Ok?" he asked her, moving to kiss her neck while he wiped the traces of her tears away. "All of you," he said. Steph sighed.

"Well, I don't see it," she grumbled. "But if you don't mind what you're looking at… I guess we can leave the lights on."

"Are you sure?" Jason asked her. "We don't have to, babe. I want you to feel comfortable." Steph met his eyes more peacefully this time.

"I like that you're comfortable with how my body looks, even if I'm not," she said. "And I kind of want to admire all this gorgeousness that Jason Todd is packing on his beautiful body... so, yeah. Lights on," she said with determination. Jason's smile for her was admiring and warm and his voice was husky when he spoke.

"You are the bravest woman I know, Blondie," he said.

"Thanks," she said softly.

"And, you know," Jason said thoughtfully as one hand made its way over to cup her breast, "if you're really bothered by your scars, and you don't mind being a homicidal maniac for a few months, I'm sure that Damian feels indebted to you for the cow-napping. He could convince his gramps to toss you into a Lazarus Pit."

"Jason!" Steph shrieked with laughter. "That's awful," she giggled.

"Awful?" Jason teased. "It's better than plastic surgery," he boasted. "Look at me. No explosion scars anywhere to be seen. My skin is smooth as a baby's backside," he said.

"Ew," Steph said, laughing harder. "And, no. No Lazarus Pits. No murderous rampages. I'm good."

"Good and beautiful," Jason insisted.

"Good and strong, maybe I can concede to," Steph said.

"It's a start," Jason said, hugging her tight and attacking her with more kisses as he stretched out over her. Steph sighed up into them and felt her toes curl as she pressed her pelvis into Jason's erection. She hummed happily as he ground back into her, sliding kisses down to her throat as she arched her back and willingly meeting her hands to press them into the mattress when she stretched them up over her head.

"God, you feel good," Steph mumbled as he kissed along her jugular and teased her with his cock while keeping her hands pinned.

"You feel amazing," Jason told her with a grin. "You like being held down during sex, Blondie?" he asked her and she nodded.

"By you, yeah," she said with a little smile as she squeezed their interlocked fingers together. "Makes me feel safe. Like you're protecting me."

"Aw, baby, I will always protect you," Jason said, meeting her lips again as an explosion of warm fuzzies went off in his heart and every macho gene in his body activated.

"You good with me going down on you?" he asked her after a minute.

"Um, hell, yes," Steph laughed. "Please do. And then I'll return the favor." Jason smiled at her as he backed down the bed to line his head up with her pussy.

"God, you're wet," he said reverentially as he slipped his fingers along her folds first.

"Because you're so damn hot," Steph said with satisfaction. "And nice. And fun. And you took me to a hotel with waffles." Jason was about to start eating her out but he laughed instead and his warm breath coasted over her clit.

"Is that all I have to do to turn you on?" he said. "Make you waffles?"

"And steal the occasional cow," Steph said with a grin, making him chuckle again as he began to lick her clit with his tongue.

She moaned into him and wiggled her hips around with her hands in his hair until they found the best angle to set her pussy on fire. Steph's moans were coming louder as he circled her clit with his tongue and when he slid a finger inside her, he moaned with her as she bucked her hips.

"God, yes," she said happily. "Finger fuck me, Red Hood."

"Oh, is it like that, Batgirl?" he teased her as he added another finger and began pumping harder. "You want me to fuck you sometime in the costume?" he asked her in a low sexy voice and Steph groaned in delight and clenched around his fingers as he went back to licking and sucking at her clit.

"What I really want to do," she ground out - "right there -" she interrupted herself frantically before continuing, although it got harder to speak around her very vocal moans as Jason pounded his fingers into the perfect spot, "I want to ride your thigh sometime while you're in the pants," she gasped out. Jason's eyes went wide.

"Shit, Steph," he said in awe.

"Don't stop!" she begged him and he quickly continued, pushing her into a loud orgasm with a few more thrusts and then pumping her through it.

"God," she muttered as she squirted around his fingers. "We should've put a towel down." Jason laughed but didn't stop thrusting up into her until she pushed his hand away in exhaustion.

"That was so good," she mumbled. "Gonna catch my breath and then go down on you, 'mkay?"

"Whatever you want, sexy," Jason said, pulling her into his arms. "That was hot as fuck," he told her, stroking her hair back from her head and kissing her temple.

"You're hot as fuck," she said with closed eyes and a little smile.

"Apparently my thighs are hotter than both of us," Jason said as he rubbed circles on her back.

"Well, that's not debatable," Steph said. "All these men who skip leg day don't know what they're missing out on," she said with a little laugh as Jason chuckled.

Steph propped herself up after a minute and leaned in to give Jason a very appreciative kiss before beginning to kiss her way down his sculpted chest and abs to his cock. She licked her lips lasciviously before sucking him into her mouth while maintaining a sultry eye contact.

"Fuck," Jason groaned as she slowly went all the way down and rested there for a second, licking around his shaft with her tongue. Steph slowly began to bob her head up and down, popping off of the head of Jason's shaft at first with each upwards movement, until she got warmed up and began to suck him off in earnest, enjoying the moans and incoherent streams of nonsense that she was pulling out of Jason's mouth as his hands tangled lazily in her hair.

"That's enough," Jason grunted after a few minutes, gently tugging her off of him and up into his mouth for a wet kiss before rolling over to grab a condom out of the bedside table.

"Let me be on top first?" Steph asked him with a grin.

"So you can feel those magnificent thighs?" Jason teased her as he rolled the condom on, but Steph just smirked.

"Yep," she said, crawling over his lap. "They're mine, now, Red Hood, and I intend to make full use of them," she said with satisfaction, making him laugh as he reached for her hips to help her guide herself down onto his waiting cock.

They both groaned as his cock plunged into her and she settled herself against his propped up thighs.

"Fuck, baby," Jason said with pleasure, and the way he was looking up at her had so much tenderness mixed in with the heat and amusement that Steph forgot to move for a minute, content to look back at the man she'd just agreed to move in with, who was healing her broken heart in the most unexpected ways and maybe, possibly, probably even capturing it as he fixed it.

She smiled at him and he smiled back before using said powerful thighs to thrust himself deeper up into her.

"Fuck!" Steph yelped and then she was riding him as they found their rhythm together, and his thumb was on her clit and every thrust was giving her stars until she came again, shuddering around him as he cursed out how beautiful she was, and in that moment Steph thought that she might believe him.

Jason lifted her off of him as she came down from her high and positioned her on all fours so he could take her from behind, pummeling her fast and hard until she was screaming out his name into the sheets and they both came together, Jason coming long and hard in what had to be the best orgasm of his life.

"And to think this all started with you yelling at me," Steph said sleepily once Jason had tossed out the condom and she was curled up into his chest with his arms wrapped tight around her. Jason snorted.

"I'm gonna teach you all about the gangs of Gotham, Blondie, and what to avoid so you don't scare me half to death again by practically getting yourself killed."

"Good," she said to him. "The Bats don't care about that kind of intel. Not that they ever cared about really training me, anyway," she muttered in disgust. "Catwoman taught me most of what I know until B made her stop."

"I'll train you," Jason murmured into her ear. "Fighting, firearms, whatever you want to know."

"Yeah?" Steph said. "I'd like that. I'd feel safer," she said.

"Me, too," Jason said. "And maybe one day you can kick Bruce's ass and show him what's what." Steph giggled.

"That would be the second best day ever," she said. "Especially when he realizes who I learned it from."

"Yeah?" Jason said. "What's your best day ever, then?" he asked her, fully expecting her to do the cheesy romantic thing and say the one they just finished.

"It was the other morning in the hotel," Steph said. "When you told me I was a good mom."

"Oh, Blondie," Jason said raggedly, hit with the emotional weight of her unexpected admission.

"Nobody usually thinks I'm good at anything," Steph said matter-of-factly. "And all I've ever heard is how irresponsible I was for getting pregnant and how I would've been better off having an abortion. Nobody's ever understood me like you, Jason," she said. "Or made me feel so good about myself." Jason swallowed.

"You should feel good about yourself, baby," he said roughly. "You're amazing."

"So are you," Steph said. And Jason wanted to argue and deny it, but with Steph's big blue eyes looking up at him so confidently, he couldn't. So he hugged her tighter.

"Well," he said, clearing his throat. "I guess it's good we have Damian around, then, to keep us humble."

Steph's quiet laughter filled his bedroom and as they drifted off to sleep, Jason thought to himself that this was possibly the only time since getting resurrected that he hadn't ended up feeling like shit after answering a Batfamily emergency call. They usually ended with him getting lectured and reprimanded despite the fact that he'd showed up to save their asses.

But this time? He'd have to get Babs a card. Or some new escrima sticks or a fancy sword, or something. As long as she didn't want a cow, he thought to himself. One cow-napping adventure was more than enough for two lifetimes. Although since it was the reason why Steph was sleeping beside him tonight, then he had to confess that the heist was more than worth it.

* * *

_A/N - Two chapters to go for the final two days of Batfam Week 2020! Yes, I got a little behind; I got sick, y'all - but 99% sure it's not coronavirus, think it's just a cold. It's been knocking me out, though, and my longfic is due to update tomorrow which I need to get done first, but then I will get the final two chapters of this fic out ASAP. I hate having unfinished works hanging over me, so no worries, the rest is coming soon. _

_And oh, the romantic tropey goodness that our final two prompts bring us... Day 6 is Fluff, and Day 7 is Nightmares. Uh huh, this should be fun. See ya soon, Batreaders! _


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N For Batfam Week 2020_

_Day 6 Prompts: **Fluff** | Take Your Child to Work Day | Magic/Fantasy AU_

_Lemons ahead... read at your own risk! _

* * *

Jason woke up with a snuggly, hot blonde in his arms, and as he kissed the top of Steph's sleeping head, he thought to himself that this had to be, without a doubt, the best morning of his life. Better than the first day he woke up in Wayne Manor after being adopted by Bruce; better than the morning after his first night out as Robin; and way better than the other morning in the motel when Junior Robin was sleeping in the next bed over preventing him from doing what he'd really wanted to do with his Batgirl.

Steph shifted a little in her sleep and Jason squeezed his arms around her tighter as she lay passed out on his chest, naked and warm and his_. _He was going to have to buy a waffle iron, he suddenly thought, so he could make her breakfast sometimes. And the vision of cooking waffles for his girl in their tiny kitchen in their beat-up Narrows gas station-apartment that Steph somehow considered genuinely nice made Jason feel so happy that he almost couldn't breathe for a minute.

"I feel you smiling," she mumbled sleepily against his chest, making him chuckle. Because she was smiling too with her eyes closed as she hugged him tighter and tried to snuggle even closer into his receptive body.

"You'd better get used to it," Jason teased her, trailing a hand up and down her back in lazy strokes. "You're making me too damn happy to be a grumpy asshole anymore."

"Good," Steph giggled, opening her eyes and shifting her head so she could look up at him. "Experiencing that once from you was more than enough."

"I'm sorry," Jason said immediately, feeling guilty again about how he'd bitched Steph out after he'd had to save her ass from getting killed, but Steph just craned her neck forward to give him a closed-mouth kiss.

"Considering how you've apologized for it, I'd say you're more than forgiven," she said lovingly.

Jason met her eyes with heat and bent down to kiss her again, but Steph drew her mouth back when he tried to use tongue.

"Morning breath!" she scolded him. "Keep it closed, mister." Jason laughed but he complied and after a few more somewhat chaste kisses, he rolled Steph onto her back and started kissing the rest of her face, instead, as Steph ran her fingers through his hair and massaged behind his ears.

He moaned appreciatively when she hit a good spot and she smiled as she felt his already hard cock respond. Jason's lips were hot and wet and trailing over her throat as one hand found her breast and the other slipped down to her core, dipping into her slit and drawing slow, sensuous strokes up and down her folds.

"Fuck, Jason," Steph groaned as he teased her by not quite hitting her clit with each upward stroke, despite her urgently wiggling hips. "Babe!" Steph protested, dropping her hands from his head to clutch at his back in an attempt to gain some leverage to find his fingers. Jason laughed softly.

"Don't lie, Blondie," he said as he teased her nipple between his fingers. "The build up feels good, doesn't it? The way you want it so bad."

"Jason!" Steph whimpered, digging her nails into his back and bending down to bite his shoulder. Jason moaned deep in his throat and began attacking her throat with little sucking nips which only served to drive Steph crazier as his lazy, unwilling fingers relentlessly avoided the spot that she wanted him to hit so badly.

"Goddamit, Jason," Steph panted as she felt the beginnings of a crazy orgasm tingling in her wet and needy pussy.

"There it is," Jason murmured, plunging several fingers deep into her at the same time that he finally probed her clit with his thumb.

"God!" Steph shrieked as she began frantically humping his hand, practically crying with relief even before her orgasm hit as his callused thumb rubbed circles around her swollen and throbbing nub.

She felt her eyes roll back into her head as the storm gathered, every aching, desperate need converging at once inside of her and suddenly striking her with a bolt of lightning as she moaned and splintered apart on Jason's rough fingers that never stopped helping her ride the wave as burst after burst of pulsing heat shot through her. Needy whines were coming out of her throat as she ground against his pounding digits that were hitting her right _there _in the perfect place, making her g-spot convulse in spasms as she began to squirt and leak all over his fingers.

"That's it, baby. I got you," Jason was murmuring as he massaged her breast and pumped her through aftershock upon aftershock until Steph was a whimpering, sniffling mess.

"God, you're so fucking beautiful," Jason said to her, finally reaching his hand up to her jaw to force her to look at him. Steph smiled up at him and it was like a ray of sunshine pierced every dark corner of his soul. He pressed his lips to hers in a quick kiss before rolling over to grab a condom.

Steph just lay there half-dazed while he put it on, and then he was sliding into her, his eyes inches from hers as he hovered over her and stroked her face and then he was kissing her and fucking her and Steph had never felt so perfect in her life. Or so loved, if she was being honest.

Oh, Tim had loved her at one point, and for a long time, too, but they'd never had sex and here, now, with Jason? She knew they hadn't said it yet; hell, she hadn't even thought it until now and they'd only just started dating, but… looking into Jason's eyes Steph knew that they didn't need to worry about rushing to name what was blossoming between them; they both felt it, and they both knew that the other one felt it, and that was all that mattered.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him as he fucked her slow and sweet, nibbling at her lips and maintaining eye contact and Steph sighed up into him, moaning with little blissful noises and gasps as they rocked their hips together, drawing the moment out.

"You want me to hold you down?" Jason asked her after a few minutes of sweet, romantic fucking. He chuckled as he felt her pussy clench around his cock before she could even answer.

"That's a yes," Steph giggled. Jason grinned and gently took her hands in his and stretched them over her head, interlocking his fingers with hers before pressing them tightly into the mattress and shifting his hips around to find better leverage.

Steph sighed happily as he let more of his body weight fall on her. He brushed her ear with his lips before he started thrusting hard and fast, making her scream as she writhed against him.

"Oh, _fuck!_" Steph yelled a minute later as another orgasm ripped through her. Jason held her tight and fucked her even harder for a few seconds until he came, too, moaning into her ear with the deepest sound of satisfaction.

He collapsed on her chest when he finished, releasing her hands so he could lightly cuddle her instead. Steph cradled his head against her and wrapped her legs around him to keep him inside her for a few more minutes in their afterglow.

"I'm so happy you're moving in," Jason mumbled against her neck. Steph giggled softly.

"Me, too," she said as she rubbed the back of his now sweaty head. She pressed little kisses onto his forehead as he emitted happy little purrs, which Steph was quite sure that he'd prefer to classify as growls or moans or grunts, but she couldn't help it if he was purring in her arms like a contented cat.

"We can shower together today, right?" Jason asked her after a minute with a playful grin when he finally raised his head up to look at her. Steph raised her eyebrows.

"Yes," she said slowly. "But don't tell me you're already ready for more."

"No," Jason grumbled, "but that doesn't mean I don't want my hot, naked girl getting all wet and soapy in the shower with me." She giggled.

"Ok," she said. "I wouldn't mind seeing a wet and soapy naked Red Hood, either."

"You love that Red Hood look, huh," Jason teased her as he got up and threw the condom out.

"Uh, yeah," Steph said. "Have you seen yourself in that outfit? You're damn hot. Even when I thought you were a mean and cranky asshole, I thought that," she said as she followed him out of bed to the bathroom.

"I seem to recall someone telling me on the way to Operation Cownap that she wasn't that into me," Jason said with a raised eyebrow and a little smirk as he turned the hot water on in the shower.

"Well, I wasn't," Steph said primly. "You were mean. And scary. And not in a good way," she winked. "Lust alone is not enough for me to be into someone," she said.

"Uh huh," Jason said, giving her a look. "Well," he said after a pause. "Maybe I can believe that. Because you did date the Replacement, after all," he snickered. "Not much to lust after there," he said as Steph threw a roll of toilet paper at him.

"Don't be an asshole," Steph said, although she was giggling a little bit. "You're going to have to make peace sometime with the fact that your brother is my ex, you know."

Jason sighed.

"Why'd he break up with you, anyway?" he asked her as they got into the shower. "Aside from the fact that he's a moron. Not that I'm complaining about it," he said, handing her the shampoo.

Steph frowned. Hard.

"He said he couldn't trust me anymore," she said grimly as she began to lather up her hair. Jason spluttered out a disbelieving laugh.

"What?" he said. "Blondie, you're the most openly sincere, good-hearted person I've ever met. I barely know you and I know that. What the fuck?"

Steph sighed as Jason began to shampoo his hair, too.

"Apparently it's ok for Tim to do everything B asks him to, including keeping secrets from me, but if I do the same thing, he can't forgive me," Steph said. Jason whistled.

"That's low."

"Yeah," Steph muttered. "I gave him more than one chance to get over it, too," she said miserably. "But in the end…" she trailed off for a minute. "He broke my heart, Jase," she said, looking right into his eyes.

"Irreparably," she added, bringing her palm up to lay it gently on his face, which actually looked sympathetic towards her. "No matter how much Tim might apologize in the future or claim he wants me back one day, I will never be able to love him the way that I used to," she said. "And I could never get back in a relationship with him with the ghost of what I used to feel haunting me. It would hurt too much."

"I'm sorry, Blondie," Jason said honestly. "I mean, I'm not sorry you're with me. And I'm definitely not sorry you don't ever want to go back to him," he grinned. "But I'm sorry you had to go through that on top of everything else that happened to you," he said more seriously, pulling her into a wet hug. "You didn't deserve that," he said and Steph sniffed against his shoulder.

"You're so good to me, Jason," she said as she hugged him back.

"You're good to me, too," he said, cuddling her close. "I know what the rest of the Bats think of me," he muttered. "And they're not really wrong."

"You're a good person, though," Steph argued, turning to look at him. "Yeah, you kill people. But only evil people," she said with a little shrug. "It could be a lot worse." Jason let out a slow laugh.

"That's one way to look at it, I guess," he said, giving her a kiss before moving her under the water so she could rinse her hair out as he grabbed the soap.

"I mean, what's worse?" Steph asked him practically. "Killing rapists or killing poor innocent cow calves because we love eating pizza?"

"Steph!" Jason giggled. "You are not gonna turn us into vegans. No. Not happening, babe," he laughed. "No more guilt trips."

"I'm just saying," Steph said with a grin. "Technically Bruce is a worse killer than you are because at least you and me have atoned for a little of our unrighteousness by stealing some cows," she said. "Has Bruce done that? No, he has not. He has innocent blood on his hands."

"Innocent beef," Jason said. "And dairy products."

"Exactly," Steph said, nodding her head. "And the next time he comes after you for killing some criminal, I am going to get Damian to remind him of his sins."

"I love you, babe," Jason laughed. Steph's breath caught in her throat and her heart began to pound. Jason was bending down to give her a kiss before he even realized what he'd said. He froze and stared at her nervously.

"Um," he said. And actually blushed a little bit. "Too soon?" he asked her sheepishly. "Shit," he said, running a hand through his wet hair. Steph's eyes were wide and that was making a hollow pit empty out in his stomach as his brain started screaming at him about how stupid he was until Steph blinked and smiled.

"Not too soon," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck and standing on her tiptoes so she could kiss him. "I love you, too," she said as Jason's breath flew out of him in a massive sigh of relief. "You stole my heart and the cows," Steph added and Jason groaned as she giggled against his mouth.

"Is this what I have to look forward to?" he asked her as he held her around the waist. "A lifetime of cheesy one-liners?"

"Pretty much," Steph said, grinning. Jason grinned back at her.

"I'm good with that," he said, bumping his wet nose into hers.

"I was thinking," Jason said when they got out of the shower, "since we have Bruce's truck, maybe we should swing by your place and grab your stuff to move you in before we return it. If you want to," he said. Steph's eyes lit up.

"Yes! Totally," she said happily. "Well, if my mom is around so you can meet her," she said. "She would not forgive me for moving out without introducing you to her, first. I'll text her," she said, grabbing her phone off the dresser.

"Do you have any extra duffel bags or boxes we can use to pack my stuff in?" Steph asked him as she typed.

"I have a couple bags here," Jason said, thinking. "The liquor store ought to have empty boxes; we can go pick up a bunch on the way. How much stuff do you have?" he asked her.

"Not a huge amount," Steph said. "Kid from the Narrows, remember?" she said easily and Jason smiled at her. "Plus I'm in college," she said.

"Bruce isn't paying for that?" Jason asked her in surprise.

"Well, he is," Steph said. "The tuition, although he made it look like a scholarship. And I live at home so I don't have rent. But between classes and Batgirl, I can only work part-time so I don't have a lot of spending money and my mom's single so it's not like we have a lot of extra."

"What kind of job do you have?" Jason asked her curiously. Steph glanced at him from under her eyelashes.

"I might, um, be a campus security guard," she giggled.

"No," Jason said, laughing. "You kick anybody's butts yet, Blondie?" She sighed.

"It's kind of annoying, actually," she said. "They call it the police auxiliary, for the student workers. And basically all you do is walk around campus in pairs with people who call for a safe escort back to their cars after their night classes."

"I really wish someone would try to mug us, once," she lamented. "It's so freakin' boring, especially when I know I could be out there as Batgirl doing more good. I'm literally counting the minutes each night until I can rush home and put the suit on."

"How much does it pay?" Jason said.

"Ten dollars an hour," Steph said. "It's pretty good for a student job." Jason gave her a look.

"Quit," he said. Steph raised an eyebrow at him.

"Quit?" she asked him suspiciously.

"Baby, I score more than enough money as Red Hood for both of us," he said, sliding his arms around her waist. "Let me be your sugar daddy," he said as he started nuzzling her neck. "Quit that awful job and let your man take care of you," he teased her.

"Mm, well, since you asked so nicely," Steph laughed into him. "Twist my arm, why don't you. But don't tell my mom I'm quitting it, ok? She'll worry."

"It'll be our secret," Jason said. "Among all of our other secrets," he laughed. Steph groaned.

"Don't remind me," she said. "I feel so guilty that my mom found out about me being Spoiler before, with… you know." _Black Mask_, she didn't have to say out loud, and Jason nodded. "My mom would never understand me being Batgirl," Steph said.

"She won't have to," Jason said, rubbing her arm gently.

Steph's phone buzzed with an incoming text and she smiled as she read it.

"My mom's home and she said she'll make us waffles if we come over now," Steph said happily.

"Well, clearly that's a 'yes,'" Jason said with a grin.

Crystal Brown already had the waffle batter made by the time Jason and Steph pulled up in Bruce's pickup truck which they had loaded with empty boxes from the corner liquor store. She opened the door for them as they made their way in with arms loaded up.

"Stephanie Brown!" her mother scolded her gently. "I can't believe the first I hear of your new boyfriend is when you're moving in with him," she said as she took the boxes from Steph and set them down by the front door. Steph gave an exaggerated sigh.

"There's a thing called privacy, mom," she said. "I wasn't gonna tell you about him until it was serious."

"Well, I'd say moving in together is pretty serious," her mom said dryly. "Come here, boyfriend, let me look at you," she said to Jason, who had just finished stacking all of his boxes on the floor along with the empty duffel bags.

"This is Jason," Steph said.

"Jason Peters," Jason Todd replied, reaching out to shake Crystal's hand.

"Crystal Brown," Steph's mom said, looking Jason over critically as they shook hands. His stomach clenched with unexpected nerves as badly as when he used to be Robin and was worried about disappointing Bruce.

"Well, come on in and sit down, you two," was all Crystal said, though. "I'll start the waffles. Coffee?" she asked.

"Yes, please," Jason said and Steph said "I'll get it," as she led Jason over hand-in-hand to the small dinette next to the kitchen. As Jason took in the mismatched chairs, he noticed the peeling and faded flowered wallpaper in the kitchen and the chipped vintage tiles on the floor, which were covered with duct tape to block the asbestos. An old Narrows trick, Jason knew, thinking back to his own childhood home.

There were some framed 8x10 school photos of little Steph on the walls but they were hung haphazardly, and Jason would lay money down that they were covering holes. He felt himself start to relax a little bit. This was the environment he was used to. Wayne Manor and its museum-like rooms and designer bedrooms had always made him feel uncomfortable, like he was living in a movie set instead of real life. But Steph's house? This felt like home. He liked it.

"So, what kind of work do you do, Jason?" Crystal asked him as she ladled batter into the hot waffle iron. "Or are you in school," she asked suspiciously.

"Oh, no, I work," Jason said easily. "For the government. I'm a technical writer."

"Oh!" Steph's mom said, sounding pleasantly surprised. "A government job. That's wonderful," she said with warmth in her voice. "Good benefits."

"Yes," Jason said, smiling at Steph, "and good job security. I get to work from home, too, most of the time," he said.

"And where do you live?" Crystal asked. "How far away are you taking my baby from me?"

"Mom," Steph groaned, but Jason smiled.

"You know the old gas station a few blocks over on Fourth and Monroe?" he asked her.

"Sure," her mom said.

"I bought it cheap at an auction a few years ago and fixed up the apartment over it."

"Steph!" her mom said in surprise, but sounding happy. "You're from the Narrows?" she asked Jason, assessing him again but with a more approving look in her eye as he nodded. "Well, thank God," she said with feeling, causing Steph's eyes to go wide.

"Why, thank God?" Steph asked her curiously. Crystal shook her head as she lifted the first waffle out of the iron.

"You two take this one," she said before answering and Steph took a second plate and cut the waffle in half.

"Look, honey, I know you loved that rich boy," Crystal said as she started another waffle, "but I knew from the beginning how that was going to end."

"What do you mean?" Steph said, freezing in place as her chin wobbled a little bit. Her mom sighed and looked at Jason significantly before looking back at her daughter.

"Rich people don't appreciate what they have," her mom said knowingly. "To them, everything's disposable. That boy was sweet enough when he was an insecure kid but then he grew up and did what they all do. He decided you weren't worth any more than the next girl and threw you out like yesterday's garbage."

"Mom," Steph said in a raw voice, tears now forming in her eyes. Jason stood up and wrapped his arms around her from behind, but he met her mom's eyes with a quiet understanding.

"Now, baby," her mom said, coming up to her and cupping her face with her hands. "Of course it hurts. Hell, you lived through that hurt," she said, patting Steph's cheek. "But now you've got a man who knows what he's got and is going to value you," she said, looking up at Jason with a warm smile. "He's a keeper, baby girl," she said.

"But I don't need to tell you that," Crystal said as the waffle iron beeped and she went back to plate up the second one. "You were raised here, too. You know not to spit on what's good."

"Yeah," Steph mumbled in agreement, turning to face Jason with love in her eyes, despite the tears from her mom's blunt truth. Jason pulled her into a tight hug and rubbed her back soothingly.

"You kids sit down and eat your waffles while they're hot," her mom scolded.

Later that afternoon, when Steph and Jason had finished unloading her modest possessions into their apartment, he pulled her onto the couch with him and cuddled his arms around her.

"I'm sorry your mom was so brutal today," he said with empathy, stroking her hair a little bit and kissing her forehead.

"That's my mom," Steph sighed. "When I was pregnant, she did not hold back from telling me to get an abortion. Multiple times."

"Ouch," Jason said. "That's rough, baby. I'm sorry. I can see why moving in with me was so appealing." Steph looked up at him.

"That's not why," she said softly before pressing a kiss to his lips. Jason felt his heart melt as he took his time kissing his girl back before scooping her legs up to position her in his lap.

"Time to negotiate tv shows," he said with a grin, reaching for the remote.

"Oh, it's on," said Steph with pleasure. "I hope you're a nerd." Jason looked slightly embarrassed.

"I read Harry Potter," he mumbled.

"That'll do, Hood," said Steph with a bright smile, curling closer into his chest. "That'll do."

* * *

_A/N See ya soon, Batreaders, for the drawn-out conclusion of Batfam Week 2020 and JaySteph's tale of cow-naps and romance. Our final prompt for Day 7 is Nightmares. _


	6. Chapter 6

_**Batfam Week 2020**_

Day 7 Prompts: **Nightmares** | Time-Travel | Mythology AU

* * *

"Let's go visit Batcow and company," Steph said happily when she got out of Bruce's truck after driving it back to Wayne Manor that evening. Jason kicked the stand of his bike down and took the extra helmet from her that she had brought along in the truck for when she rode home with him.

"I'll text D and let him know we're here," Jason said as they headed for the path through the grounds that led to the barn. He reached out for Steph's hand when he was done and swung it in his as they walked along, although it wasn't long before Steph was skipping beside him instead of walking.

"Excited to see the Robincows?" Jason asked her with a smile.

"Yes," Steph said as she danced along in front of him, now. "And happy to be with my awesome partner in crime," she added, flinging her arms around his neck to kiss him. Jason caught her and held her tight for a minute before she was pulling him after her again and all he could think about was how cute she was and how damn lucky he was and how oddly affectionate towards their cows that made him feel. Huh.

Damian would no doubt be pleased by that development, he thought with a little grin. It had been fun working with his little brother, even if Jason had been loathe to admit it to him. They rarely spent time together. When Talia had first dumped Damian in Gotham, he had been an unpleasant reminder for Jason of his zombified days in the League of Assassins before his mental rebirth in the Lazarus Pit.

Not to mention a guilty thorn in his conscience. He had been powerless to help Damian back then, given his altered mental states, but his memories of the abuse that Damian suffered at Talia and the League's hands haunted him.

So it had been good to bond with him and start to forge a genuine connection. Something else that he had to thank Steph for, Jason thought happily as he watched his blonde skip and dance along the wooded footpath, comfortably tethered to his hand. She glanced back at him and caught his thoughtful eyes.

"What's that look?" she asked him.

"I love you," Jason smiled. "That's what." Her smile lit her whole face up before she smothered him in kisses as he caught her around the waist.

"I love you, too," she finally said. "In case you couldn't tell."

"I could, in fact, tell," Jason grinned. "But you can remind me again later." Steph giggled and let him wrap an arm around her as they finished making their way to the barn, where they found a dejected Damian sitting on a bale of hay with Titus's head in his lap.

"Damian?" Steph asked in concern, looking over at the five cows, who seemed like they were getting along fine.

"What's wrong, Little D?" Jason said, dropping down to the barn floor to sit next to him and actually reaching a hand out to rub his little brother's back. "Is it Pops?" he asked grimly. Damian sighed heavily.

"He benched me," he muttered, and Steph saw tears in the back of his eyes.

"Why?" Steph asked, moving to sit down, too. "Because of the new cows?" Her face looked worried.

"No," Damian scoffed. "He does not even know about the cows, yet. He and Alfred do not frequent the barn," he said.

"So what happened?" Steph said gently as she scratched behind Titus's ears.

"Timothy Drake has returned from the Teen Titans and Father decided that having both me and Red Robin in the field together with him is a liability. As I am younger and he is more accustomed to having Timothy Drake as his Robin, he has benched me for as long as Red Robin is home."

"That _bastard,_" Steph said with vicious feeling, causing both Jason and Damian to look at her in shock. "I will kill him," she said in a low voice. "I will kill him myself. And then nobody will be benched. That fuckin' piece of shit."

"Babe," Jason said, his eyes wide and concerned. She glared at him, her eyes hard and angry, but Jason knew that it wasn't him who Steph was mad at. He saw the memories replaying in the back of her eyes and her breaths coming fast and shallow and he knew, he knew that she knew better than any of them what the consequences could be of Bruce's thoughtless and often arrogant actions towards his Robins.

"Steph," Jason said again, more gently this time as he reached out to pick her hand up in his warm one.

"How dare he," she said in a taut voice. "How _dare _he," she repeated. "It's bad enough that Dick can't even be Damian's Batman anymore. Or his parent. But now he's going to bench Damian? No," she said firmly. "No, no, no."

She stood up and brushed the hay off of her jeans and began stalking out of the barn.

"Where are you going?" Damian said, getting to his feet to trail after her.

"To bitch slap your father," Steph called back. Damian glanced at Jason with wide eyes before slowly curling up the edges of his mouth. He turned and began running after Steph, followed by Titus.

"I want to watch," Damian yelled. Jason tightened his jaw and trotted out after them.

"Oh, Miss Stephanie, Master Jason," Alfred said as the trio stormed past the kitchen on the way to the Batcave elevator. "Will you be staying for dinner?" he called after them.

"It might be a repast, Al," Jason called back over his shoulder.

"It might be well deserved," Alfred murmured to himself as he continued to polish the piece of silverware in his hands. He sighed.

Jason suddenly halted Damian when they got to the conservatory and bent down with his hands on the younger boy's shoulders.

"You should stay up here, Little D," he said gently. Damian frowned.

"Why?" he said. "I want to watch Stephanie attack my Father." Jason shook his head.

"Dami, there are some times when it's better not to witness our father's fuckery," he said. "Trust me on this, kid," he said, squeezing his shoulders. "You want to have a relationship left with Pops when this is over." Damian looked up at him with big, quiet eyes before slowly nodding, albeit with disappointment.

"Very well," he said. "Come, Batman," he said to Titus, moving to sit on the tapestried couch to wait.

"We'll let you know when to ring the morgue," Jason said with a hollow grin as Stephanie activated the secret entrance to the elevator on the grand piano.

She looked at him with a question mark in her eyes as they rode down to the Batcave.

"I'm behind you on this," Jason said reassuringly. "One hundred percent, babe." She blew out an angry breath.

"Ok," she nodded firmly.

"Go get him, Batgirl," Jason murmured in her ear right before the elevator stopped.

Bruce and Tim were in front of the Batcomputer and looked over as Steph stomped down the catwalk towards them, with Jason right on her heels.

"Stephanie?" Bruce said. "Jason. How was camping?"

"You were camping together?" Tim sputtered. Steph ignored him.

"You fucking _bastard,_" she growled at Bruce, marching right up to his face. He raised a solitary eyebrow at her. "How dare you," she said, moving forward. "How _dare _you," she repeated, taking both hands and shoving him in the chest. Bruce didn't budge, but his stare got even icier, if that was possible.

"Whoa, Steph," Tim said in shock, moving to grab her, but Steph whirled and shoved him away. Into Jason's waiting arms.

"Back off, bitch," she said at the same time that Jason snapped, "Don't touch her." Tim's look got almost as glacial as the Bat's but Steph wasn't looking at him anymore as she had turned back to face Bruce.

"You benched Damian?" she yelled at him. "What the fuck is the matter with you, Bruce?"

"I don't see how my management of Robin is any of your concern," he said coldly.

"No?" Steph yelled, getting closer to his face again. "Not my concern? I guess you forgot what happened to me and Jason, then, when you benched us. You _asshole,_" she spat at him and it was so slight that it almost wasn't noticeable, but Jason saw Bruce's eyes flinch at Steph's rebuke. Right before she slapped him across the face. Hard.

"Damn," Jason breathed out in delight while he tightened his grip on Tim's arms, who was now struggling even harder to get free.

Bruce's head had flown to the side with Steph's slap and he left it there, staring at the floor and grinding his jaw.

"Bruce didn't bench Damian for incompetence," Tim said as he tried to break out of Jason's death grip. Jason didn't even have time to tell him to shut up before Steph had whirled and punched him full on in the face.

"Batgirl!" Bruce snapped at her, coming to and yanking her backwards away from a bleeding and somewhat dazed Tim. "Go upstairs," Bruce snarled at him. "Now." Tim hesitated only slightly before unwillingly nodding at his Batman. Jason released him and gave him a filthy look, which Tim returned as he made his way to the elevator, gently touching his bleeding nose.

Bruce let Steph go as Tim exited the cave, and she turned to face him again as Jason came up behind her and gently put his hands on her heaving shoulders.

"How could you do that?" Steph said more brokenly to Bruce, tears starting to fill her eyes. "How the fuck could you do that, B? After everything that happened to me?" She sniffed and Bruce swallowed guiltily as she put a hand over her mouth, trying not to cry.

"I didn't - I didn't think it was the same," he said quietly.

"You never do, Bruce," Jason said coldly. "That's the problem. You never fucking think about how we feel. And you never learn." Bruce flicked his eyes to his estranged son before his gaze went, as if drawn by a magnet, to Jason's death memorial enshrined in the Batcave. Steph followed his eyes and gulped.

"You didn't even make a memorial for me when you thought I was dead," she mumbled. "I guess that's how much I mattered to you."

"No," Bruce said immediately, turning back to look at her. "No. Stephanie," he paused. "What happened to Jason was a tragedy. What happened to you… was my fault," he said. "I couldn't live with a reminder of my guilt staring me in my face every day," he said, looking down at the floor.

Jason snorted derisively.

"Maybe you wouldn't keep making the same mistakes if you had to confront a daily memorial to your fuck-ups," he growled. "How did you think the kid was going to feel, Bruce? First he lost you, thinking you were dead. Then he loses his Batman and his parent in Dick when you show back up and now you take Robin away from him, too."

Bruce groaned and rubbed a weary hand over his stubbled jaw.

"I was worried about him," he said. "Red Robin and I worked together for so many years. We have our own rhythm and dynamic. Having Damian out there with us would throw it off and I don't want him to get hurt."

"So you couldn't fire Tim," Steph said coldly. "In favor of your son. Who's younger. And needs you."

"It wasn't permanent," Bruce said helplessly. "I don't expect Tim to be around forever. Dick didn't end up staying and Tim's been in and out of Teen Titans for years, now. He needs some time to figure out where he wants to land as an adult."

"Bullshit," Jason said. "He could go figure that out somewhere else. Damian needs Robin. You know the demons he's carrying from what Talia did to him." Bruce sighed.

"He and I," he said slowly. "We don't work together as well," he muttered. "I'm not his Batman and he's not my Robin."

"So your solution was to bench him until what? You disappear again? Something magically works itself out without your intervention? Or he gets himself killed," Steph said angrily. "I really hate you sometimes, Bruce," she said, blinking away tears.

"You should," Bruce said quietly. "You deserve to. Of all people. I let you down more than anyone," he said.

"So don't let Damian down, then!" Steph said in frustration. "What good does wallowing in guilt do if you don't change, Bruce?" He sighed but didn't answer.

"Look," Jason said after a minute of silence. "Damian needs Dick a hell of a lot more than he needs you. Start sending him to Bludhaven every weekend. And he can join Team Oracle and patrol with me and Steph the rest of the week."

Steph turned to look up at him.

"We're going to start patrolling together, you and me?" she said with pleasure.

"Yeah, we should," Jason said. "For Damian. I owe him that. And I love you, babe, but you're not ready to be out there supervising him by yourself yet. Because someone cut your training short," Jason said sharply to Bruce, who had started looking at him and Steph curiously.

"I've trained with the League. I can take care of you both," Jason said to Steph. Bruce frowned at him.

"You can't kill people," he said curtly.

"No shit, Pops," Jason said angrily. "Like I don't know way better than you how badly Damian is fucked up from being turned into a miniature assassin. I would never kill anybody in front of him." Bruce stared at him for a minute, unwilling to acknowledge the rebuke but clearly thinking about Jason's offer.

"I'll have to clear it with Oracle," he finally said. "And Dick. But I suppose it's an acceptable solution."

"We'll talk to Oracle, too," Steph said. "And Dick," she added, looking over at Jason, who nodded. Bruce gave her the faintest nod back before cocking his head to the side.

"How long have you two been dating?" he said. Jason smirked proudly as Steph smiled up at him.

"Since our camping trip," she said to Bruce, with her eyes on Jason. "But we're living together, now," she added. "I just moved out of my mom's house today." Bruce raised an eyebrow.

"Does Tim know?" he said.

"Nope," Steph said. "Not yet."

"Eh," Jason said. "Damian's probably rubbed it in his face by now," he said and Steph laughed.

"Yeah, probably," she said with not a small amount of glee. "I guess we should go back up there and see the carnage." She gave Jason a wicked smile. He smiled back but gave Bruce a more serious look.

"You need to come upstairs with us and fix this with Damian," he said. "If you can. At least apologize to the kid." Bruce hesitated but as he looked from Jason to Steph, he sighed and began following them towards the elevator.

Upstairs, Damian had burst into cackles when Tim had emerged from the Batcave elevator with a bloody nose and bruised face.

"What happened to you?" Damian asked him. "Todd or Brown?"

"Shut up, Damian," Tim said crossly, stalking out of the room to find some ice. He had just returned to the conservatory with a ziploc baggie wrapped in a paper towel on his face when the elevator opened on Bruce, Jason, and Steph.

Damian immediately flicked his eyes to Jason for answers, which made Steph's heart squeeze with a little bit of tenderness.

"It's gonna be ok, kid," Jason said to him comfortingly. "We got things sorted out."

"How?" Tim said suspiciously as he hovered in the doorway holding his ice on his face, not deigning to sit down.

Steph glared at him and the look that Jason gave him was downright evil. With a smirk, Jason strolled over to the large armchair situated by the couch currently hosting Damian and Titus and deliberately pulled Steph into his lap as he sat. Who promptly snuggled into him with the relaxed posture of a lover as he draped his arms around her waist and over her thighs.

Tim's inhale of breath was a sharp hiss. But Bruce was already seating himself next to Damian and starting to speak.

"Son, I want you to know that I was only concerned for your safety," Bruce started out. Damian frowned.

"I am more than capable of handling myself in battle, Father," he said.

"I know," Bruce said. "It was myself that I doubted. And my own ability to keep you safe." He paused. "Batman and Robin are a symbiotic team," he said slowly. "And you developed as Robin under Dick. Not me. I think you recognize that it's been difficult for you and me to mesh in the field since I've been home," he said gently.

"It has been different," Damian muttered.

"I know," Bruce said, laying a hand on his shoulder. "That's not your fault. It's nobody's fault," he said. "It just is. I'm not your Batman." Damian scowled as he looked down at the floor, struggling not to cry, Steph thought.

"Even if Red Robin leaves," Bruce said, "you and I won't truly be able to gel as Batman and Robin. But I'm still your Father," Bruce said. Jason cleared his throat significantly. Bruce's eyes flashed to his for an instant as Jason raised his eyebrow in the trademark Batcasm.

"I'm one of your fathers," Bruce amended. Damian raised his head to look at him in confusion.

"Dick has been more of a father to you at this point than I have," Bruce said gently. "Maybe he always will be. But there's nothing wrong with having two fathers and you couldn't have a better one than Dick."

"No shit," Jason said. "He leaves you in the dust, Pops. Not even a competition." Bruce glowered at him for a second but the corners of Damian's mouth were quirking up at Jason's jab. Bruce sighed.

"Your brother and I talked," he said. "And once I call Dick to work things out with him, you'll start going to Bludhaven every weekend to stay with him and be his Robin." Damian perked up the slightest bit.

"With Titus?" he asked.

"Of course with Titus," Steph said. "And I'll take care of the cowww for you," she said, barely stopping herself from putting the 's' on the word. "And Alfred can take care of Alfred the Cat and your duck." Damian gave her a small smile.

"Acceptable," he said quietly. But his eyes were flashing with gratitude.

"But wait, there's more!" Jason said cheerfully. "The rest of the week, you, me, and Blondie are gonna be Team Oracle and patrol together."

"Really?" Damian said, his face starting to light up a little more.

Behind him, Tim was muttering snarkily, "Blondie?" and staring at Jason and Steph with daggers in his eyes.

"Really," said Steph, swinging her heels lightly against Jason's legs. "Oh! And I just had the best idea!" she said excitedly.

"What?" Damian and Jason said together, although Damian sounded slightly wary while Jason sounded amused if not eager, especially with Bruce looking at Steph like he was bracing himself for a psychological blow to the stomach. Or another bitch-slap.

"When you're patrolling with us, we should call you Red Bull!" she said, bouncing on Jason's lap. "Because of Batcow!" she said. "We can make you a little red hood with bull horns on it," she giggled against the rumbling behind her of Jason's quiet chuckles.

"Could you?" Damian asked Jason, with a tiny hopeful gleam in his eye.

"Sure, kiddo," Jason laughed. "Whatever Blondie wants, Blondie gets."

Tim scoffed from across the room. Loudly. Four pairs of eyes turned to look at him.

"So you're fucking Todd now, _Blondie?_" he spat out.

"Fucking him, living with him, marrying him, all of the above," Steph said calmly, turning to loop her arm around Jason's neck so she could pull him into a deep kiss. Which he more than eagerly returned, as pornographically as possible, as Tim let out a series of strangled curses and stomped out of the room to the sound of Damian's mocking laughter.

Bruce watched Tim go without reprimanding Damian, then turned back to look at Steph and Jason, who were doing their best to wrap up their kiss now that Tim had audibly left. They couldn't stop giving each other goofy googly heart eyes, though.

"Congratulations," Bruce said quietly, drawing their attention back over to him and Damian. "I couldn't ask for a better daughter," he said seriously.

"I will tell Cass you said so," Damian said, earning a snort and an affectionate hair ruffle from his father.

"I'm sorry I didn't handle things better," Bruce said to him sincerely. Damian blinked and nodded as he rubbed his nose while his other fingers gripped Titus's fur a little tighter.

"So you and I will never work together, Father?" Damian asked him in a small voice. Bruce caught his breath.

"That - that matters to you?" he asked Damian slowly. Instead of answering, Damian just looked down at his dog.

"Maybe," Bruce said, thinking out loud. "Maybe you and I and Steph should start training together," he said. Steph jumped a little bit in Jason's lap and looked at Bruce, her eyes getting big. Bruce met her eyes bravely, although his held guilt and regret. And shame.

"If Steph wants to," Bruce said quickly. "We could practice becoming a trio and then patrol together one or two nights a week when we're ready."

"Not without me," Jason said flatly. Bruce looked at him.

"You think I'm gonna trust you anymore with my girl and my little brother? Uh uh," Jason said. "Not happening."

"You would have to come train with us, too," Bruce pointed out.

"Fine," said Jason.

"Really? You would?" asked Steph. He looked at her.

"I was gonna start training you more anyway," he said. "We can work with little D and Pops a few days a week, too."

"Three days a week, at least," Bruce said with a frown.

"Two days, maximum," Jason said back, holding his gaze. "Damian's going to be in Bludhaven Friday through Sunday every week and I need two days a week to train him and Steph as Team Oracle." Bruce looked at Jason with some surprised respect.

"Ok," he said. "I guess it's settled then?" he asked Damian, looking down at his young son. "Is that satisfactory?"

"It's acceptable," Damian mumbled, but his face looked a lot more peaceful as he said it.

"Good," Bruce said, bending down to kiss his hair. "I'll go call Dick and Babs," he said, getting up from the couch.

"Let's go back out to the barn, D, and hang out with Batcow," Steph said.

"Ok," Damian said, getting up with Titus as Steph and Jason stood up.

Bruce shocked Steph by coming over to her and kissing her cheek before giving her a gentle hug around her shoulders.

"Welcome to the family, officially," he said with a smile. "Not that you weren't a part of it before." He hesitated for a second as he and Jason stared each other down, but then Bruce cautiously wrapped his arm around his son in a loose hug. "Congratulations," he murmured in his ear. "It's good to see you happy." Jason blinked and gave him a small smile before Bruce turned to leave.

"When did you get engaged?" Damian asked them. Jason looked at Steph, whose eyes were quietly laughing.

"Just now, I guess," Jason said with a grin.

"I take it the answer's yes?" Steph giggled.

"Hell, yes, the answer's yes, Blondie," Jason said, pulling her into a kiss. "And fabulous timing, sticking it to the Replacement like that." She smiled.

"It just came out," she said, rubbing her head against his arm as they followed Damian through the manor to head back outside. "I didn't plan it."

"Not complaining," said Jason with a smile.

When they got outside, Steph tugged on his hand for a minute to stop him so Damian could get a bit ahead of them.

"What's up?" Jason said to her.

"Just so you know," Steph said, looping her arms around his neck with a big smile, "me and Tim never had sex." Jason stared at her as his jaw dropped slowly open and his eyes slowly lit up.

"Blondie," he said in awe. He swallowed. "I mean, not that it mattered if you had. I assumed you had."

"I know," Steph said. "He didn't want to. I respected that," she shrugged. "But…" she trailed her fingers up and down Jason's arm. "Given all the bad blood between you two and between him and me, now…" She looked up at him. "I wanted you to know. So you can secretly gloat over it."

"And gloat I will," Jason said with passion, pulling her into him for a deep, long kiss. That lasted until Titus came running up to them, barking. Steph giggled as they broke the kiss off.

"Batman is scolding us again," she said. "I guess Robin want us to hurry up, huh, boy?" she asked him.

"You're really ok training with Bruce again?" Jason asked her as they began walking towards the barn again. "We don't have to if it'll bring too many bad memories up." Steph chewed her lip.

"Damian needs it," she said. "And as long as you're with me… I think I'll be ok."

"Ok," Jason said. "If you're ever not, you'll tell me?" he asked her with a serious look and she nodded.

"I will," she promised. "But I'd like to try it. Damian could use the support and I know it means a lot to him to get to work with B."

"You're a good person, babe," Jason said, cuddling her close into his side as they walked.

"So are you, baby," Steph said back. "I can't imagine it's going to be that pleasant for you, either, working with Bruce again."

"Maybe not," Jason said. "But, for Damian…" he said. "I'll do it."

"Well, you tell me, too, if it ever starts freaking you out, ok?" Steph said. "Promise."

"Ok," he said to her as they approached the barn. "I can do that for my girl," he said, and she smiled at him.

"What did you name the cows, D?" Steph asked the waiting Damian as Titus impatiently herded her and Jason into the barn.

"Oh," said Damian as he petted Batcow's head while the calves nursed on their mothers, who seemed less anxious already. "I named them SpoilerMilk and RobinMoo for the moms and RobinBull and RobinHood for the calves, because they're boys," he said.

"D!" Steph said. "You named them after us?"

"After all of us," Damian said. "But you got two, because there were two girls."

Damian squawked and Titus barked as Steph pulled him into a hug.

"Release me at once!" he yelled. "Never hug an assassin! I could have knifed you in the ribs."

"You love me too much," Steph sang as she gave him a final squeeze before letting him go.

"Hmph," Damian said. "Only because you might be useful for future cow heists."

"I thought we were stealing pigs next," Steph said.

"Babe," Jason said, shaking his head frantically at her from behind Damian.

"Indeed," said Damian. "Todd is correct. Babe the pig. We must procure him next." Jason groaned.

"It'll be good training," Steph wheedled, wrapping her arms around Jason. "And romantic," she pleaded.

"We already have the trailer," Damian pointed out. "And Titus performed admirably as Batman." Titus gave a happy bark of agreement.

Jason sighed as he looked at his radiant fiancée and his unusually happy brother.

"Ok, fine," Jason grumbled. "The Robins will raid again."

"Yay!" cheered Steph as Damian smiled and Titus wagged his tail and barked.

"But only because I love you," Jason said, pressing his forehead to Steph's. "Both of you," he clarified, turning to look at Damian as well. "And also because I love bacon and need to atone for my sins," he sighed.

"Don't we all," Steph agreed.

"Tt," Damian said. "Not me. I am a vegan."

_The End_

* * *

Thanks for reading along with me on Batfam Week 2020! Hope y'all didn't mind the less literal take on nightmares. I was inspired by what different Batfam member's worst nightmares might be if played out in real life.

Please check out my other Batman fics! Lots of Jason Todd, lots of rarepairs, lots of Bruce Wayne pairings (and plenty of wholeheartedly good person Bruce Wayne in there as well as a few with more questionable parenting skills at play.) Happy reading!


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